The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

MOOCs Have The Potential To Democratize Higher Education

The big names have been a big draw. Since Udacity, the for-profit startup running the course, opened registration on Jan. 23, more than 90,000 students have enrolled in the search-engine course and another taught by Mr. Thrun, who led the development of Google’s self-driving car. Welcome to the brave new world of Massive Open Online Courses — known as MOOCs — a tool for democratizing higher education. While the vast potential of free online courses has excited theoretical interest for decades, in the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree. And in what some see as a threat to traditional institutions, several of these courses now come with an informal credential (though that, in most cases, will not be free). Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/education/moocs-large-courses-open-to-all-topple-campus-walls.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

MIT Plans Process To Provide Credit For Those Taking Its Open Courses

While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will announce a new program on Monday allowing anyone anywhere to take M.I.T. courses online free of charge — and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating mastery of the subjects taught. But the new “M.I.T.x” interactive online learning platform will go further, giving students access to online laboratories, self-assessments and student-to-student discussions. While access to the software will be free, there will most likely be an “affordable” charge, not yet determined, for a credential. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/education/mit-expands-free-online-courses-offering-certificates.html

Library Pirate Wants To Change The Textbook Industry

LibraryPirate was founded a little over a year ago with a site mission of providing college students with an alternative to continuously rising textbook prices. “Our mission is simple and specific,” LP’s admin explains. “To revolutionize the digital e-textbook industry and change it permanently.” LibraryPirate’s founder believes that real-world business rules don’t apply when it comes to textbook pricing and he bemoans the often unnecessary annual updates that render last year’s textbook obsolete, just as this year’s version – with its 6% annual price uplift – becomes the dictated ‘choice’. Read more at:
http://torrentfreak.com/free-textbooks-for-students-will-break-greedy-monopoly-110816/ 

 

Free Online Course Attracts More Students Than Most Universities Enroll

A free online course at Stanford University on artificial intelligence, to be taught this fall by two leading experts from Silicon Valley, has attracted more than 58,000 students around the globe — a class nearly four times the size of Stanford’s entire student body. The online students will not get Stanford grades or credit, but they will be ranked in comparison to the work of other online students and will receive a “statement of accomplishment. The computer scientists said they were uncertain about why the A.I. class had drawn such a large audience. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/science/16stanford.html?src=me&ref=general

Survey Finds 70% Of Students Skipped A Textbook Purchase To Save Money

As the cost of textbooks continues to rise, many college students are choosing to skimp on textbooks to save money. Seven out of 10 undergraduates surveyed at 13 college campuses said they had not purchased one or more textbooks because the cost was too high. The U.S. PIRG analysis also found the price of textbooks has risen 22 percent over the past four years-- a much faster rate than overall inflation. Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/student-advocates-sound-alarm-on-textbooks_n_924536.html

Latest "7 Things" From EDUCAUSE Covers Open Textbooks

The open educational resources model, including textbooks, has emerged as a response to rising text prices, a need for greater access to high-quality learning materials, the proliferation of e-reader devices, and a trend in publishing toward electronic media. Many contend that educational resources should be open and that instructional models increasingly depend on open content. Open textbooks can be offered by commercial publishers or found in open repositories. Open resources can promote active learning through student interaction with the text, particularly when they contribute to authorship. Although open textbooks face questions about the accuracy and reliability of their content, they allow higher education instructors to design content for their courses on an as-needed basis, choosing from an array of books, articles, videos, audio recordings, and readings. Read more at:
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutOpenT/225383

University Of The People Founder On Barriers To Global Higher Education

Imagine that you're a bright young individual who has just finished high school. You're eager to explore the next steps on your educational path. Yet, for a variety of reasons, all you see is one closed door after another in your quest for higher education. Several factors are at fault. University of the People is not "reinventing the wheel" by offering education via the Internet. However, it's using the wheel efficiently to organize free and open educational resources into structured programs that, when combined with social networks and volunteer professors, can offer sustainable and affordable higher education. Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shai-reshef/right-to-education-denied_b_823352.html

Student Research Finds Free Content Works Just As Well As High-Priced Textbooks

Students are taking the battle against high-priced textbooks into their own hands. This week, 11 University of Cincinnati seniors in the psychology program presented at an Educause event a comparison of the content of traditional college texts, one of which costs $168, to content they found for free on the Web. The research effort was undertaken as part of the Digital Bookshelf Project, the University System of Ohio's effort to make textbooks more affordable. Students also found that the free e-textbook and lower-cost print materials all provided similar learning support. They recommended a combination of digital and print materials as being most supportive of student learning. Read more at:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/02/16/student-research-can-googling-replace-168-intro-to-psych-textbook.aspx

Looking Back At Ten Years Of MIT OpenCourseWare

I have been fortunate to have been very involved in the development of the global MIT OpenCourseWare movement in the past 10 years. Each time I attend the Consortium annual meeting, which draws together leaders from OpenCourseWare programs around the world, I am struck anew by the breadth and depth of the movement MIT's program helped to inspire.  This spring also marks 10 years of a vibrant global movement that has openly shared educational materials spanning academic levels, languages and cultures. Read more at: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/ocm-reflections-carson.html

Open Textbook Advocate David Wiley Shares Video Message Encouraging Faculty To Ditch Costly Textbooks

There are 400 million openly licensed materials that can empower teachers to be better instructors through that openness. But there's a big barrier: adoption. In this video, David Wiley talks about the opportunity and the challenges. Watch the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiyjhdTRiwo&feature=player_embedded