When looking at Open Education Resources (OER) for a separate assignment I found the work done by Dr. David Wiley. In reading more about him I saw that his work has had numerous effects not only on the teaching aspects of my work but also in previous roles when working with Creative Commons content. His work on online resources has really helped to push the idea of open education and open content into the mainstream.
In 1998, Wiley initiated the Open Content Project in which he pushed for the sharing of “Open Content”, a term he created. This open content would allow academics, artists or other content creators to use already created content and to simply adapt it to their own needs, rather than recreating the same things over and over again. This push inspired and helped create Creative Commons which Wiley is the Director of Educational Licenses.
Wiley continued his spread of open content and education when he joined the University of the People which allows learners to take courses without tuition and to pay for assessment rather than content. He is currently the Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning which is a company that helps institutes to utilize OER resources effectively. His academic writing and his blog posts continue to add to the discussion around openness in education.
Open Content (n.d.). Retrieved from https://opencontent.org/blog/
Account, D. W. (2018, October 08). David Wiley (@opencontent). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/opencontent?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
David Wiley. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://davidwiley.org/
University of the People Accredited Online American University. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.uopeople.edu/
Unparalleled Experience in Open Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lumenlearning.com/about/team/
October 9, 2018 at 7:37 pm
Jeff,
I enjoyed your post as I have a keen interest in the concept of open resources and content. I have often wondered why knowledge has been so sacred, I understand the idea of copyright and academic ownership, I have always thought that authors should be proud that others want to use their work (with credit of course).
I am interested in Wiley’s idea of not paying for tuition but paying for assessment. This does not seem like a sustainable business model to me. I know that I would sit in classes all day every day if I could and I would be more than happy not to be assessed. Therefore, I have absorbed all the incredible experience for free! Has this plan been successful?
Danielle