Blog Post #5 - Open Course Ware

This week's chapter in Bonk opened my eyes to just how much content and progress has been made in the movement to make education accessible and available to the masses.  It is also surprising and yet not so surprising that this information is being disseminated by some of the most prestigious schools like MIT and Yale. The mixed emotion stems from the fact that the information given is from an elite entity that is very selective about who walks onto campus each day to get the same information.  These groups also serve to be innovators and serving this information to the masses is definitely an innovating move.

Beyond these initial innovators, many places have stepped up to the challenge of changing dynamics and offering courses, programs, degrees and beyond.  A centralized site we looked at this week called the Online Education Database assists learners to find the content (http://oedb.org/). Beyond this, sites like Opensource Opensourceware Prototype System takes this content and increases accessibility and availability through translation to other languages (http://oops.editme.com/).  This is all with the support from an eccentric man that believes that knowledge should be open and accessible.


After seeing all of this information, it was inherent in me to compare the progress of these places with Lehigh and see how far my own university has gone with this movement.  While we are certainly not on the forefront, I think we are still fairly progressive from the aspect of opensource and opencourseware.  We have open iTunes courses, and other streamed content from sources like Biology.  The latest innovation is in the realm of Library resources, where we were chosen as one of several schools to assist with the production of an open library environment (Kuali Ole). For me, this is all proof that opensource and opencourseware is on our front door step, and its not going away anytime soon.  It will be interesting to see how universities create their niche is these changing environments.

Carly's PPT of Collaboration with Google Docs on Wiziq conference.

Blog Post #4 - Tech Plan Reflection

For my tech plan, I chose a current project that I have begun to implement here at Lehigh.  The product is an e-portfolio system called Mahara.  We decided to look into this new software because it was open source, integrates into Moodle, and our current system is outdated and lacking.

As I wrote the tech plan, I found myself looking to the lehigh.edu website to see where the goals of the committee implementing Mahara are aligned with the goals of LTS.  I was surprised to see what LTS even valued as "goals".  Most things were more or less task based items, and did not identify our vision and goals of an organization.  Another important item I realized was the disparity between LTS' goals and the University goals.  I find it unfortunate because I think the intentions of the department are definitely focused on being in line with the needs of the university, but people reading this plan on the lehigh.edu site would never be able to pull that out of the current tech plan.  Fortunately, the tech plan is ends this year.  Perhaps there were be some positive developments moving forward.

Blog Post #3 - E-learning

This week's reading is of special interest to me.  I feel as though we are headed into the world of e-learning whether we like it or not.  Stories like the of the Fennell's (Bonk, pp.98-104) exhibit the mass amounts of flexibility that can be provided in learning experiences.  What's more is that the learning can go on in remote places without compromising the amount of knowledge gained. 

As students begin to experience such flexibility and customized learning in K-12, there will be great expectations to have similar course offering in higher ed.  These expectations are not unfounded and no longer have to be expensive options for higher ed.  Open University (OU) is a great example of this.  They are an institution that is accredited by the Middle States commission in the U.S. and they offer a lot of remote learning courses, degrees, etc. for its students.

Lehigh University has benefited from the size and scale of OU.  They are the creators of an open source blog tool that is available for use in our course management system (OU blog).  Because the university is so large and running Moodle as at least one of it's learning management systems, funds are used to produce modules and activities that are subsequently shared to the rest of the Moodle community.  Currently OU has a competitive advantage from an e-learning perspective over Lehigh, but as demand for this type of learning increases and school's like Lehigh move beyond the physical barriers of learning, the competition will be about where a student can learn the most in an efficient and effective way.

Having access to more learner means that the pool of student learners applying to schools will certainly increase. This will clearly change the role of teachers as time goes on, and it might even spark a surge in positions for instructional technologists and instructors with expertise in e-learning.  It is important to emphasize that although change may come, e-learning does not mean that universities will become like puppy mills, pumping out diploma after diploma. It also does not mean the teachers should be expected to deal with hundreds of students from all over.  A lot of work goes into these courses and the quality of the courses will weed out competition as time goes on.

Bonk, Curtis J. (2009) The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

The Open University. (2010, September 13). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved September,13 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_University

Blog Post #2 - Bonk: Chapters 1&2

Enter a second post(3-5 paragraphs) in your blog that connects what you found most meaningful in your reading. Connect it to your values or job. Remember to cite your source so you can find it again (and to practice citation/reference skills).

While reading Bonk, the content really hit close to home for me.  Much of what he wrote about emulated my thoughts and feelings about the current state of society relative to teaching, learning and technology.  We have reached a time where technology has become low cost or even free, and it is providing many people with the opportunity to learn, that otherwise would not have the financial resources to do so.  Tools that Bonk discussed, including social networking, digitized books, streaming tools and the like have all become important parts of the learning process at higher ed institutions like Lehigh.  As Bonk discussed (pp. 35-41), these tools and new ones on the horizon will become more important as they become more readily available on a global level.

As a technology employee at a University, I have vested interest in this because these technologies will most likely have a direct impact on the recruiting and selection of future students.  In a time where budget cuts are the norm, it is important for people like me to identify technology tools that are low cost and provided needed resources to effectively teach and learn.  Many open source initiatives such as Moodle, Mahara, Google Scholar, and more are providing schools with an advantage at low costs.  Such tools are widening the selection pool for students, but it is also increasing the competition among institutions.  Offering a variety of course attendance options opens the doors to invite students from around the world to join in the learning experience.

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend the Sloan-C/Merlot/Moodle conference in California.  Many of the facilitators of this conference are leaders in the remote learner realm, and strive to achieve many if not all of the same ideals that encompass "WE-ALL-LEARN"(Bonk, p. 51).  The general feeling I got from the conference is that while some may still be skeptical about the authenticity of e-learning, the technologies and tools that Google, Microsoft, and other players bring to the world of learning have the ability to make the learning experience better than face to face learning.  Granted, e-learning is not for everyone, but having the ability to offer a student a way to learn that fits best with their learning and life styles breaks down barriers to learning that once existed.

The one concern that I have in my current position is identifying ways to quantify the total cost of ownership for such technology with the state of things; financially, technologically, and educationally.  Although open source tools like Moodle do not have a cost associated with the software or its use, the cost of hardware and management do not go away.  It has become an educational experience to explain to students, staff and administration alike that there is still an associated cost for such tools.  One speaker at the conference said it best when he stated, "Its more like getting a free puppy than getting a free beer".


Bonk, Curtis J. (2009) The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Blog Post #1 - About Me

My name is Carly Klimash and I am an Instructional Technologist at Lehigh University.  I am in my last semester of the Instructional Technology Masters program at Lehigh.  I hope to continue to apply my learning to the work I do at Lehigh, and offer new and innovative tools to the faculty and staff to enhance the learning experience for our student body.
Technology has always been the focus of my education and work experience.  As an undergrad, I completed a bachelor's in Business Administration with a concentration and management information systems. The school that I attended, Northeastern University, has a strong focus on practical knowledge application from classroom to work and vice verse via a co-op program.  I completed my co-op experience at Harvard Law School in the tech department, and drew a wealth of technical and educational experience.  This experience drew me back into the world of higher ed after a few years in the corporate world as a systems administrator.
All of these experiences provided me with a perspective of using technology as a tool to improve the task at hand, while creating a more efficient and effective experience for the end user.  I hope that continuing to learn and hone these skills, will allow me to provide future support in this capacity in my work and teaching to others.