{"id":68343,"date":"2023-05-29T01:03:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T05:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=68343"},"modified":"2023-05-29T01:03:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T05:03:18","slug":"diy-degree-why-universities-should-make-online-educational-materials-free-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/diy-degree-why-universities-should-make-online-educational-materials-free-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY degree? Why universities should make online educational materials free for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAs part of the federal government\u2019s bid to overhaul higher education, the Universities Accord\u00a0discussion paper<\/a>\u00a0is seeking to \u201cwiden\u201d opportunities for people to access university. It also wants to \u201cgrow a culture\u201d of lifelong learning in Australia. As the review team note, most people in Australia who study at university are under 35.
\nLifelong learning can help to ensure that workforce skills are up to date and that jobs in high demand can be filled, as well as enabling people to create new job opportunities through innovation.<\/em>
\nThese issues need to be approached in many ways. And will inevitably include proposals for shorter forms of learning as well as addressing the financial cost of attending university.<\/p>\n

My proposal \u2013 also outlined in this\u00a0journal article<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 is that a proportion of educational resources generated by publicly funded universities should be made public and freely available.<\/p>\n

This could radically expand opportunity and flexibility and potentially allow students to design their own degrees, by doing multiple different units from different universities.<\/p>\n

This idea is not completely new<\/h4>\n

There is a precedence for this idea. The international\u00a0Plan S<\/a>\u00a0initiative is led by a group of national research funding organisations. Since 2018, it has been pushing for publicly funded research to be published in open-access journals or platforms.<\/p>\n

Australian chief scientist Cathy Foley similarly\u00a0wants all Australian research<\/a>\u00a0to be \u201copen access, domestically and internationally, and for research conducted overseas to be freely available to read in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

When it comes to university learning, a\u00a02019 UNESCO report<\/a>\u00a0encouraged member states to make higher education educational resources developed with public funds free and freely available.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0March 2023<\/a>\u00a0report, the Productivity Commission recommended the federal government require \u201call universities to provide all lectures online and for free\u201d. The commission said this would increase transparency in teaching performance and encourage online learning.<\/p>\n

But this also has the ability to make to higher education\u00a0more accessible<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is already plenty of international experience sharing educational materials online \u2013 including the global Open Educational Resources\u00a0public digital library<\/a>. This includes resources from early learning through to adult education.<\/p>\n

The Productivity Commission says universities would not lose income by making educational resources open access. This is because universities \u201csell\u201d credentials, not resources. It is also argued overworked academics can save time by using materials created by others.<\/p>\n

But there is\u00a0resistance<\/a>\u00a0from institutions and academics, including a perception free resources will be poor quality and take a lot of time to create. There is also a lack of technological tools to adapt resources. This may explain why open education has not yet taken off in Australia.<\/p>\n

How would this work?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

My plan would require open online sites to host educational materials produced by academics. These would need to be moderated or curated and published under an\u00a0open access license<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It would include a peer review system for educational materials like the one already used for research publications. Academics could get credit for publishing, updating or reviewing resources and the publication of education output would be included in the university metrics.<\/p>\n

This could also help reverse the current downgrading of teaching in Australian universities in favour of research.<\/p>\n

There could be three types of users:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. students who access materials through the university that produced them, as per current practice<\/li>\n
  2. individual students outside the university that created the materials who access materials for their own learning at whatever stage of life they are relevant to them<\/li>\n
  3. other organisations, including other universities, that then contextualise and deliver the materials to their students.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What kind of materials are we talking about?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    The Productivity Commission has talked about \u201clectures\u201d being made available for free. But lectures are not a good way of transmitting information, especially online. For one thing, they\u00a0do not promote<\/a>\u00a0critical thinking.<\/p>\n

    My plan proposes whole courses or at least sections of courses with assessments, would be provided. This includes text, videos and software and can include course planning materials and evaluation tools.<\/p>\n

    An indication of the academic level to which the course speaks, and the amount of possible credit, should also be provided.<\/p>\n

    What about accreditation?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Accreditation of learning should be considered as part of this.<\/p>\n

    The\u00a0OERu<\/a>\u00a0is an international organisation where partner universities (including Penn State in the US and Curtin University in Australia) offer free access to online courses. Students pay reduced fees if they want to submit assignments, which can earn them microcredits towards a degree offered by one of the partners.<\/p>\n

    A more radical option would be to develop a system where students collect microcredits from whatever source they wish and present them to an accrediting body for an academic award rather than enrolling in a particular degree course.<\/p>\n

    Suggested recommendations<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    As it prepares its draft report, the accord review team should recommend:<\/p>\n