MIT Ushers in New Era, 11 Years Ago

I can plainly see why Wiley includes the video from a 2001 press conference at MIT as the first resource in the OpenCourseWare section of his Open course.  Within the first five minutes of watching, it's clear that not only has MIT been versing themselves in 'all things open' for much longer than anyone else, but they also understood OpenCourseWare and it's value well before anyone was talking about "openness" in the context of offering curriculum.
According to then MIT President, Charles Vest, OpenCourseWare (OCW)  is a "natural marriage of American higher ed and the capabilities of the world wide web" (April 2001)
According to faculty at MIT, OCW combines two things: the traditional outreach of American education, and the internet.  Together, they make vast amounts of information readily available to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Since the video was filmed in 2001, I can't exactly use the words "revolutionary," or "cutting-edge" to describe OCW, but that's exactly what MIT is, both then and now.
According to the faculty panelists at the press conference, MIT views the OCW project as a solution to an engineering problem they've been struggling with for some time: The problem, or question, is how to  create and disseminate new knowledge openly, under the MIT name, and using the MIT brand, without upsetting those who pay to use that brand, ie, tuition paying students and families.
In response to questions like that, the faculty on the panel drew several analogies that I found helpful in terms of understanding OpenCourseWare in general and the concepts that drive it. According to one faculty member, "raw material is not true education."  OCW isn't replacing traditional course work at MIT. According to the faculty panelists, a "true" MIT education comes from the interaction of the students with faculty, students with students, students with lab work and equipment, facilities, community, etc.
Another way to think of OCW is as a publication, rather than a form of distance learning. It's material; not instruction.
By the end of the video, the concept of OCW was clear to me, but so was the benefit of it - not only to MIT, but to any institution willing to offer it. The benefit is intangible, and therefore, arguable, but I see the benefit (and so does MIT, and they are all pretty smart folks) in the relationships that a place like MIT can forge, solidify, and gain from, with OCW. By offering it, they are enhancing their relationships with a larger educational community, both within the institution and around the globe.
In summary, the recognition comes at a cost much cheaper than tuition.

Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me... Open Content is....?

At first glance, the unit on Open Content in Wiley's course looks like it's the shortest, in terms of the list of readings and assignments. I looked at it and thought "Okay, cool, a shorter unit!" Um, not so. Total Wiley/ Jedi mind trick: While reading the shortest of the short readings, I found myself more confused than I was in the first unit, back when I was working on sorting out all these different topics and ideas and how they apply to and mean something to my work.
Before even starting this unit,  I understood the concept of "open" in the context of education, and I also thought, since I blogged on it already, that I understood Open Source and what that means. I'm admittedly less comfortable with the Licenses;  maybe that's why the Open Content unit gets me all turned around, because understanding "open content" requires a pretty solid understanding of copyright, licensing, and what it means to make something free and useable to the public.
To begin the unit on "open content," Wiley offers us his definition. The first part of it asks us to revisit the definition(s) of "open" and "openness." This is a helpful refresher not just in substance but also in spirit - he's reminding us of the continuous nature of the concept. He uses the example of an open door to explain - A door can be open all the way, or part of the way, or even just a wee bit, and it's still not closed, right? So, even when it's not wide open, it's still open.
At this point, I'm on board. I get that. I read a little further into Wiley's definition: "Open content, then, is content that is licensed in a manner that provides users with the right to make more kinds of uses than those normally permitted under the law - at no cost to the user" (Wiley, 2011).
Aaaaand I'm lost again.
I keep reading: "Put simply, the fewer copyright restrictions are placed on the user of a piece of content, the more open the content is"  (Wiley, 2011).
Okay, so content being considered "open" relates to the use of said content.  So the more publicly accessible the content, the more open? That seems obvious. So why was I so confused? Because I kept reading. That's why.
Again, the manner of usage of content is what makes it really open, less open, or not open - any variety of open is still open. To provide a framework for content use, Wiley provides the 4 Rs.

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• that's only 3 Rs.... oops. Wrong list.

Sorry. Seriously, though, Wiley's Rs are pretty similar:

1. Reuse
2. Revise
3. Remix
4. Redistribute

This framework provides a much needed context. Whenever I'm trying to understand something super conceptual, I love some scenery to go with,  some type of setting I can apply the concept in. So I like the 4 Rs, because by using them, I can come away feeling a wee bit more clarity about something really difficult to pin down: Open Content is less about the content itself and more about the manner and style of its use. If it's content that's public, accessible, and free (cost)- then it's open. Simply put, the activity that takes place around any given bit of content is really what decides the degree to which it's open.

Everything Will Have to Change in Order for Things to Remain the Same

In our study group yesterday, we had a brief discussion after a viewing of the video "The Coming War on General Computation" in the Open Source section of Wiley's Open Course. There was much to discuss, but not much time to do it in, so we settled for a shorter foray into the issues of Open Source and some of the trends we are seeing, not only as participants in the course, but as instructional designers and as avid users of the internet.

We all agree that running just beneath the surface of all our discussions on copyrighting trends, open source code,  SOPA, and PIPA, is the start of a paradigm shift - in the context of online education and education in general.

This shift seems to be characterized by a change in our relationship to the internet and its myriad of content. As Peter Baskerville writes in his article A Paradigm Shift: Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Open Online Learning, "The open online learning on the [internet]... will make world class self-motivated learning affordable for all. It will be delivered in a ‘just-in-time’ mode, being completed at the place of our choosing, at a speed appropriate to our learning abilities and preference (visual, auditory, reading/writing or tactile) and in accordance with our situation and need" (V274. 2011)."

The internet and everything available on it, through it, and because of it, has provided every one of us with some of the tools and skills necessary to begin "democratizing knowledge" (Baskerville, 2011). Add to the tool box some open source code, open resources, and a few open minds... et voila: a revolution is born.

For so long, access to higher education has existed within the confines of tradition, cost, and location. The internet provides not only a mechanism but also a setting for learners to begin  taking control of their own educational endeavors.  More than that, innovative users and savvy programmers can also build immense amounts of wealth, therefore influencing (read = forcing) the ways and means of business and economy to change: "As this revolution spreads, much like the industrial revolution of the 1800’s, it will cross borders and industries rapidly, forcing even main-stream industries to embrace the new learning paradigm or run the risk of obsolesence. Just like the industrial revolution, it will be a 'bloodless' revolution where the stakeholders will simply vote with their feet and 'walk off the farm' , leaving the past educational paradigm behind them " (Baskerville, 2011).

Baskerville goes on to define and describe some of the more influential paradigm shifts of the last few centuries; one in particular stands out: the Printing Press. Baskerville asserts that Gutenberg's first printing press is the originating ancestor of the internet. This is a really cool argument: he describes how the invention of the printing press made information "portable" for the first time in human history, and therefore, available to the masses.  In addition, the printing press made it possible for information to be generated by sources other than the foremost authority in those days: the Church. The printing press was an immensely threatening challenge to the status quo.... and you know where this is going, don't you? Baskerville: "...the internet adds an even greater learning dimension to the metaphor of the printing press because it allows every person on the planet to own one. That is, to participate in framing humanity’s body of knowledge by sharing their specific, uncommon and unique knowledge with the world..." (2011).

The internet has changed the relationship between the learner and their educational experiences .  With the use of the internet, any learner can dictate the terms of their learning in ways that were never possible just 10  years ago.  In order to keep up with learners, education has to find ways to evolve beyond its familiar traditions and proud history.  The paradigms of traditional education must shift; education has to either embrace change, or perish.

References:

Baskerville, Peter; Guild (KPG), Knol Publishing. Open Online Learning - A Paradigm Shift:Entrepreneurial opportunities in Open Online Learning [Internet]. Version 274. Knol. 2011 Oct 8. Available from: http://knol.google.com/k/peter-baskerville/open-online-learning-a-paradigm-shift/14j3i4hyjvi88/14.