Basic Electricity for kids - Very educational film showing kids how elec...

Learning reflection for Session 4: 12nd – 13rd September 2013 - OCL4Ed

My 4^th learning Reflections - OCL4Ed

The 4^th session was based on the concept of creative commons and their applications. The CEO of Creative Commons Mrs Catherine Casserly clearly explains how materials created can be made available for use to other people by moving them from all rights reserved to some rights reserved. Creative commons consists of 6 types of licenses which issues different type of permission for use from the authors. In this way, both the authors and users are given some rights on the created materials. 

Justin Cone, creator of the clip “Building on the past” states that using creative commons makes life easier, makes your creations easily accessed to other people and if it is educational , then the author has to make it go to the world otherwise the work has no importance and it ends here. I agree with him when he said that when you make a project and apply all right reserved, it is the end of the story, whereas if you give out some rights to others, then you bring in variety, improvement, new twist, new dimensions to your created work and hence make it interesting.

As an educator, I believe that teaching and learning material should be given the most freedom, lets say the CC-BY attribution so as to allow other people with more creativity to explore further concept we bring into existence, this will provide more opportunities in the educational sector and increase learning resources and ideas. However if we restrict by applying all-right reserved concept, then we are blocking the route to knowledge.

Creative Commons help researchers such as educators, scientists, companies and public organisations in innovating, adapting and developing ideas to improve their respective sectors. Finally I would like to say that implementing creative commons especially to the educational sector is a saver to the rights of both producer and consumer of teaching and learning content.

Learning reflection for Session 3: 10th - 11th September 2013 - OCL4Ed

My 3^rd learning Reflections - OCL4Ed

The first activity consisted of MCQ’s on copyright issues. Well without reading the notes, I worked out these questions, the feedback provided was constructive since it explains the reason why the answers are correct or incorrect and these helped me to better understand the laws pertaining to different situation. Later I tried the MCQ’s again and I got all of them correct which means that I now understood the concept.

Being a Muslim, I learnt since childhood that the bible has been modified by early priests and monks, it is now through learning about history on copyright that I came to know that before the 18^th century, there was no such law or term to qualify plagiarism, this is why the bible is not in its original form.

Moreover I like the quote which says:

“Imitation is natural to man from childhood [and] the first things that he learns come to him through imitation.” - Aristotle 

Yes I totally agree with Greek Philosopher Aristotle as I believe that since childhood we tend to imitate our family members, teachers, friends, people who has had an impact on our life.

Furthermore I am learning about the Berne convention and Mauritius is one among its signatories. I am also able to differentiate between civil laws and common laws. I think that in m country it is the common law which is applied. In Mauritius, the curriculum-based text books for primary and prevocational streams are developed by the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE). Officially those contents are under copyrights to the MIE but it the lecturers, inspectors and teachers who provide ideas, diagrams, task activities, questions and other contents to be inserted in the books. They are recognized for their contributions but they do not become the owner, it is the MIE who owns these materials under common laws. However if an individual decides to write a book, he will then need a publisher who will acknowledge his work and market it through the distributer.

Personally If I create an educational material, being a person who like to share, I would be delighted to see my work be of help to people even if they make money out of it, I would tell myself that at least I am able to contribute to someone earning his living, I will not feel frustrated that my work is being attributed to an institution or some people making my personal work like commodities. I would release my work in the public domain for people to use, share, modify, re-use, remix, re-adapt, etc… for I believe that this will bring more variety to educational resources and copyright laws will not act as barrier in the education sector. 

If educational institutions are able to make themselves recognized as owner for materials created by people who work for them, I agree, because when working for them, the people also become part of the family of the institution. Making the institution the owner of the educational materials also brings some satisfaction and self-confidence for the worker; this may be considered as moral rights. According to me, it is not making the developer’s or editor’s name appear public that will bring big change to the person’s life. If we talk about the economic right, well the developers and editors are already receiving a salary for creating learning materials.

My 2nd learning Reflections - OCL4Ed

Learning reflection for Session 2: 6^th - 9^th  September 2013 - OCL4Ed

My 2^nd learning Reflections - OCL4Ed

The 2^nd session has been as a revision of 2 past modules for me, OER and Intellectual property. Open education was very well defined by David Wiley  as he talked about it being accessed for free and allowed to be used. He also clearly explained about the permissions when applying the 4R’s.

Moreover Professor Eben Moglen talk about the beginning of a revolution when the word ‘theft’ is being attributed to the re-use of content. I stated in the micro-blog that :

“If the word 'steal' is being linked to copying, re-using, remixing, then everyone would be considered as a thief. Knowledge does not come on its own, we all learn new things from others, that does not make our interpretations stolen goods.”

His speech reminded me about the difference in perceptions of the producer of knowledge and the distributor of knowledge. Many people hide behind rights of intellectual property just to make money since they take knowledge as commodity. However I appreciated more the lecture by Professor Lawrence Lessig, his sense of humour captured the attention of his listener and he gave example such as “ Mickey Mouse” to illustrate the idea to 4R’s and how evil is the idea of owning others work and making money out of it. He emphasizes on the rights of the creator, the re-mixer, the distributor into ecology of creativity.

Overall I would qualify what am learning as fruitful since I reflect better about the application of intellectual property to teaching and learning content. And I would like to make a statement which comes to my mind here, it is:

“Do not imprison whats in your little brain, set it free and it will generously flourish your insights.”

- shahina lalloo

Learning reflection for Session 1: 4th - 5th September 2013 - OCL4Ed

My Reflections on Learning - OCL4Ed

First of all, I am not so much used to blogging, thankfully after this 1^st session, I manage to create my blog for this course and write my thoughts. Then I heard about ‘microblog’, I researched and understood the difference between a blog and a microblog. Moreover I did not quite paid attention about vocation and profession before, then this question rose up and made me think about my roles and attitudes as an educator. Eventually, it is now through the open forum that I got to think about my vocation and my profession and reflect about my personal situation as a teacher.

This free course on Open Content Licensing is digging out my mind about my previous knowledge on open education resources. The tasks we get involved in the activity helps to think deeper about teaching aids and resources. I have been able to distinguish between vocation and profession. Moreover after watching the video on Desmond Tutu statement on digital freedom where he spoke about cultural artifacts, I realize it is time to sensitize the population about sharing and enlarging the academic community. We cannot live as selfish people. It is high time to innovate and develop new strategies and sharing resources in teaching and learning, this will not only saves time and energy but will create fraternity among teachers and make them competent in their job.

Sharing of ideas create variety in learning materials and enhance the objectives, thus creating better students for the future. Since we have easy access to internet and software tools and application, uploading learning materials and resources can be done a click away and made easy for the students to do research and become independent learner. Additionally, this will make us feel as in a global educational village with positive attitudes towards helping each other in teaching and learning throughout the world and get to learn though other cultures as well.

Shahina lalloo.

University of Mauritius

Mauritius

OCL4Ed

Is teaching a vocation or profession? My personal perspective

First of all lets see who is a TEACHER?

By definition a teacher is someone who inculcates knowledge, manners and values. Therefore a teacher holds a high prestige in the society. If a person working in the classroom does not possess qualities of a teacher, then most probably there is a leak somewhere, and I would hereby say: either a TEACHER or a CHEATER! He/she is doing a job he/she is not worth of.  Teaching is a noble profession because the teacher must possess so many qualities such as politeness, good manners, optimism, enthusiasm, helpfulness, devotion, care, leadership, socializing skills, good moral values; well this is a continuous list.   A teacher plays many roles in the lives of his/her students, he is the role-model. If the teacher is not keen on sharing or not at ease with classroom environment then teaching is not his vocation. Moreover a teacher is also a professional in his work, he plan and prepares his work orderly and effectively to meet the lessons objectives.   Personally, I see teaching requires both motivation, interest and professionalism from a teacher. Hence I would refer to teaching as both a vocation and profession.     My choice to be a teacher. As a child, i was always inspired by my teachers both primary and secondary. They were soft-hearted and dedicated people. I remember, I would imitate them at home with imaginary pupils at home, I would hold the chalk and stand in front of the little blackboard my dad made at home. while in college, i already made up my mind, I wanted to teach because I wanted to share what I know, I wanted to have an audience to listen to me. Fortunately few months after my secondary studies, I got a temporary job to replace a maths teacher who was on maternity leave. A new start, a challenge for me although maths was not my vocation ( am a Home-economist). I started to experience the ups and downs in classroom situations especially with students who hate maths, however I managed quite successfully to make my class interesting with good attitude towards my students. Later , hopefully i was employed in the same institution to teach Home Economics which consists of Food and Nutrition and Fashion and Fabrics. I love teaching those 2 subjects, they are creative, useful and very much linked to day-to-day life. Moreover as teachers, we get holidays, as the name say it, these are HOLY DAYS for me :)     

OER- Open Educational Resources

OER refers to the bank of teaching and learning materials available for free use such as copying, editing, customizing, sharing, modifying, and distributing. OER being free for use is considered under the public domain as there is no license fee for copyright. OER consists of the following 3 areas:

1. Learning content such as taped video, modules, lecture notes, textbook, articles from journals, worked exercise, classroom activities, quiz, syllabi and discussed case studies, journals.

2. Software tools available for designing and developing courses, CMS, LCMS for online learning.

3. Implementation resources: Intellectual property, techniques, methods of design learning environment.
OER are becoming popular as they enhance learning by providing a new way of searching for information without barriers. Personally I feel that students tend to become more independent learners in developing the habit of finding information on their own. Moreover they achieve good social qualities by sharing information with peers especially in online communities. OER bridge the gap between a small pool to an ocean of information with no cost. Uses of OER innovate teaching and learning. Teachers can easily update information in open text books rather than losing time and money for a new edition to be available on the market. Moreover OER allows collaboration among its user though they may be from different countries, institution or from other educational field.

Important issues to be considered for OER:

1. The technical and pedagogical quality of materials presented should be verified. OER should be checked for quality assurance regularly to make sure the information provided is accurate, true, reliable and valid. The content in OER should be reviewed by a qualified member in the educational sector before publishing.

2. The reputation of the author is to be considered so as to ensure quality of the OER.

3. To ensure quality, the resources should be self assessed by the producer, reviewed by the institutions before release, rated and commented by communities and finally analysed by individuals using the resources.

4. Not all student or school can have accessed to OER because of lack of technology facilities.

5. Even if the materials available are free, there is a significant fee for administrative procedures. Lets take the example of the Bsc in Educational and Instructional technologies course, the course materials (OER) may be available freely for lecturers to put on the platform as resources but we have had to pay around Rs62,000 for the two years of course delivery. However it should be considered that paying Rs62, 000 for studying for a degree in 2 years time is quite cheap compared to other courses provided by the University of Mauritius. Or let’s compare the BSc in educational and Instructional technologies’ fee to any degree course offered by UNISA, the latter would cost approximately Rs180, 000 for 3 years of study.

6. Some OER have to be adapted by teachers based on students learning needs


Open educational resources are one of the ingredients that contribute to the success of the education sector. Sharing of knowledge make people learn more and better. Internet is free, so why not make use of it to built a better generation of teachers and learners.

While studying for the OER module in BSc Ed Tech, as group work, my peers and I prepared some presentations, below are the link to them.

http://www.slideshare.net/shahinalalloo/the-middle-ofopenspaces

http://www.slideshare.net/shahinalalloo/ppt-on-chapter22



Ref: http://openeducationalresources.pbworks.com/Quality-considerations http://infosherpas.com/ojs/index.php/openandlibraries/article/viewFile/44/66