OLDaily

An Open Invitation
Michael Patrick Rutter, Inside Higher Ed, 2019/07/11

So... OK then. "What exactly is open learning in 2019? I was drawn to this question by the following statement:  'When it comes to the availability of open course content, we may be retreating from where we were even a few years ago… which seems really surprising.'” I'm not really surprised. But let's continue. "My co-blogger Steve Mintz suggests what might amount to a do-over for the MOOC movement: What if a group of leading institutions created a higher ed compact (i.e., not a consortium)? That compact would be based upon three ideas: make campus developed tools openly available to non-profits; disaggregate some instructional content; and work with Mellon, Howard Hughes, etc. to create a new JSTOR or ARTSTOR for pedagogy. He dubs it: One for all. All for one." All fine - except that the foundations will demand 'sustainability', the institutions will expect some sort of direct return, and ultimately, the commercialization cycle will start again.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Ontario Schools Tally OER Savings with New Tool
Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, 2019/07/11

According to this report, "A new tool from the eCampusOntario Open Library measures student savings from open educational resources (OER) usage. Impact, as it's called, recently calculated that students have saved some $4.5 million (Canadian) in 'mandatory textbook fees'." Similar calculations have supported OER projects elsewhere, and they help bolster the case for open educational resources and the organizations that create them. The real value, though, is the data fed into the calculator, not the calculator itself.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Exploitative higher education internationalisation is dead
Fay Patel, University World News, 2019/07/11

About fifteen years ago Australian education took a turn toward commercialization and internationalization. At the time, with initiatives like Flexible Learning Leaders, it had a world-leading presence, but with commercialization things went behind closed doors. Now, according to this article, which draws on a series of ABC reports, this trend may be coing to an end. "Recently, the Australian media has reported on unethical approaches to internationalisation of higher education... the very high level of tuition fees.., concerns that universities may be lowering English language proficiency levels... (and) the fact that there are few job opportunities available for international students." According to Fay Patel, "It is time to make ‘the call’ and pronounce that this kind of exploitative internationalisation is dead and has served its purpose."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The Annual G20 Scorecard – Research Performance 2019
Jonathan Adams, Gordon Rogers, Martin Szomszor, The Web of Science Group, 2019/07/11

The main this the authors of this report (27 page PDF) want you to know is that "It is not a ranking." Instead, "the study looks at the research workforce and research collaboration, output, quality and competitiveness to produce profiles for G20 countries (not including Europe)". It's interesting, but I think it takes a very narrow view of research performance (patents, citations, productivity). Via University World News, which simply quotes from the report.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The Great Wave: what Hokusai’s masterpiece tells us about museums, copyright and online collections today
Douglas McCarthy, Medium, Open GLAM, 2019/07/11

This article describes the relative ease or difficulty of access to a digital image of Katsushika Hokusai's block print commonly known as The Great Wave. On some museum websites, you just click on the image and get a high-quality image you can download. At others, it is a lot harder - the British Museum, for example, requires that you fill out a detailed form with a lot of personal information, and then makes you wait for a day or two before you receive your image. Go figure.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]