tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post8412093597350542446..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: OpenCourseWareLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-64878020351377356012009-07-21T20:14:24.322-04:002009-07-21T20:14:24.322-04:00Greetings,
I have downloaded the entire courseware...Greetings,<br />I have downloaded the entire courseware from the MIT. I do intend to agree with you on the fact that there is no visual appeal in those presentations. Also, I did go into the biochemistry section of the Toronto University Web site. I am an e-learning content developer and in my experience, I felt that we could probably have a combination of the two. We could have the powerpoint presentations along with a voice over, explaining the concepts put on the slides to a greater detail so that the learner appreciates the material and as you had mentioned the University also gets appropriate recognition. These days, people generally fall for open courseware and generally assume that Universities providing such material are of very high standards (no offense against any University. Hence, I feel that those universities that put up such open courseware must take some time in evaluating the quality of the material and also put themselves in the listener's shoes before hosting such videos on their portal.<br /><br />Regards,<br />Vytheeshwaran Vedagiri<br />Director, <br />Biochemistry For U, "Abirami" 4-A Devadi Street,<br />Mylapore, Chennai 600 004, Tamilnadu, India<br />Ph: +91-44-9380531319<br />http://biochemistryforu.googlepages.comMr. Biochemistryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16983864823082574657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-91923147044499535192008-05-23T21:55:00.000-04:002008-05-23T21:55:00.000-04:00I went to the site you referred to and I didn't se...<I>I went to the site you referred to and I didn't see any examples of open course notes.</I><BR/><BR/>arxiv e-print archive is roughly the equivalent to PLOS, but without review. First it handled preprints, now AFAIU it can be the only publication, with review and critique online (ideally). I would guess the point is that physicists was early adopters.<BR/><BR/>Peering (sic) from the outside in, I dunno why the course material is expected to be perfect or unique. If more universities can afford to do this, the problem of different and incorrect definitions will hopefully become obvious. Perhaps it will tend to enforce higher quality and communication, as well as reviews like this may do?<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, as for outside free access, YMMV. (But I would argue that you get more than your money's worth. :-P)Torbjörn Larssonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13304729731231255545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-77342697080267398762008-05-23T14:17:00.000-04:002008-05-23T14:17:00.000-04:00anonymous says,I'm a physicist and the norm in our...anonymous says,<BR/><BR/><I>I'm a physicist and the norm in our field feels more open than you describe; e.g. we started the e-print archive (http://arxiv.org/). While your remarks (especially your criticisms of the Bulletin article author) apparently make sense for your field, I'm not sure they make quite so much sense for physics.</I><BR/><BR/>I went to the site you referred to and I didn't see any examples of open course notes. Did you post the wrong URL?Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-19438996652706174442008-05-23T13:25:00.000-04:002008-05-23T13:25:00.000-04:00I think that it's important to define (at least pr...I think that it's important to define (at least provisionally) the purpose of online course material. In the past 5 years that I've been TAing, more and more students have been asking that all course material be put online. So, for example, in the case of my supervisor's 4th year Biology course, we've started doing that.<BR/><BR/>One of the big problems that we've been noticing is that students are using the online material as a 'crutch'. I can't count the number of times that someone complained that 'the answer to question X on the exam wasn't in the course notes'. 'Yes,' I always reply, 'but the prof. discussed it <I>in class</I>.' At best, people print off the course notes in advance and scribble extra notes on them, at worst (i.e., usually) they figure they'll just get them before the exam - so they don't take their own notes.<BR/><BR/>If most profs are planning to use the lecture notes only as guides - then what's the point of preparing high-quality presentations, and paying a lot of money in order to make them open-access? The profs I speak to generally say that the presentations are complementary to the lectures; they're not meant to stand on their own. Is it really helpful if people outside the school are able to download them*?<BR/><BR/>*Obviously they may be able to use individual figures and things like that...Carlohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00153076425887492166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-64209470802174158462008-05-23T12:22:00.000-04:002008-05-23T12:22:00.000-04:00I'm a physicist and the norm in our field feels mo...I'm a physicist and the norm in our field feels more open than you describe; e.g. we started the e-print archive (http://arxiv.org/). While your remarks (especially your criticisms of the Bulletin article author) apparently make sense for your field, I'm not sure they make quite so much sense for physics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com