1 A Model for Collaborative Open Courseware By Bun Yue at CSCI 6530 Research Methods September 2003.

1

A Model for Collaborative Open Courseware

By Bun Yue

at CSCI 6530 Research Methods

September 2003

September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;

[email protected] 2

Abstract

Present a Collaborative Open Courseware (COC) Model with the following properties: Modeled after the successful open source

software development model Fine-grained object model High level of collaboration Rich contents


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Contents

Introduction and Related Works The UHCL's COC Model Current Status Conclusions


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Introduction

Instructors put course materials into the Web. Many may have 'free' copyright. Benefits: free, quick access. Potential Problems:

Quality Copyright Completeness Richness Ease of uses

Good resources scattered


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One Approach: Repositories

Various kinds of repositories. May address some of the problems But usually not all.

Example: http://javascript.internet.com/ (JavascriptSources.com): richness, ease of uses.

Not addressed: quality, copyright, completeness.


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Merlot

http://www.merlot.org/Home.po Free and open higher education

resources; example resource link. Address:

Quality: peer review by panels. Richness: repository.

Not well addressed: copyright, completeness, ease of uses.


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MIT Open Courseware (1)

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html MIT: 500 open courseware now. All 2,000 courseware open and free by

2007. Extremely successful:

Wired magazine article: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/mit_pr.html


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MIT Open Courseware (2)

Very high quality Open source-like copyright Ease of use: especially for students Richness: limited by sizes of lecture notes Completeness: topics limited by MIT

offering; contents set by MIT authors Collaboration: within MIT.


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Rice's Connexion Project (1)

http://cnx.rice.edu/index_html; an example: CNXML.

Collaborative, community-driven approach for courseware development.

Module-based and open source. Coarse-grained object model. Tools for authoring and browsing

courseware. CNXML to capture courseware.


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Rice's Connexion's Project (2)

Quality: post-publication community-based reviews; smaller sets of authors.

Richness: community-based; more collaboration; limited by modules.

Copyright: open source Ease of uses: dedicated tools with high

consistency. Completeness: community-based.



SourceForge.net (1)

http://sourceforge.net/ Community-based site for open source

software (OSS) development. Provides services, tools, visibility, etc, to

OSS projects. September 15, 2003:

Hosted Projects: 68,184 Registered Users: 698,972



SourceForge.net (2)

Lessons Low cost of entry Projects managed by dedicated

developers. Community maintains quality: feature

request and bug fix request Natural evolution Flexibility required for evolution.



The UHCL's COC model (1)

Similar approach to Rice's Connexion project: Community-based Open source

Difference: Finer-grained object model More flexibility



Simplified Rice's Connexion Class Diagram

Module Course0..*0..*

use



Simplified COC's Class Diagram



COC Model: Units

Units may contain and require other units. Subunits may belong to many units. Subunits exist on their own terms. Units may contains embedded artifacts

and external artifacts.



COC Model: Artifacts

Artifacts are actual course contents: lecture notes, exercises, examples, glossary, assignments, resource links, case studies.

Artifacts exist independently by themselves.

An artifact may be used by many units.



CIC Model: Courses

Courses are collections of units and artifacts.

Unlike Rice's Connexions, courses are not necessarily hosted in COC site.

Instructors pick and mix to build their own courses.



COC users

Workgroup: create and manage the project; plan required units.

Developers: develop units and artifacts. Instructors: access COC repository to

create courses and share experience. Regular users: access COC repository to

learn.



COC Course Content Format

Two options: Any format the workgroup of the project

wants to use. COC's supplied XML.



COC's Quality Control

Support both kinds of review: Pre-publications Post-publications

COC site provides a range of pre-publication review mechanisms for projects to use.



Benefits of COC's model

Low cost of entry Finer objects More flexibility

More collaboration Structures to plan subunits



COC Model Approach

Copyright: open source Quality: varying Ease of use: good for instructors and

students, but no consistent format. Richness: high level of collaboration. Completeness: high level of collaboration;

structures for planning subunits.



COC Current Status (1)

Research Team: Kwok-Bun Yue, Andrew Yang, Wei Ding and Ping Chen (UHD).

Grant Activities: Institute of Space Systems Operation

(ISS0): funded small seed grant. National Science Foundation: submitted

curriculum and development prototyping proposal.

Looking for other funding sources.



COC Current Status (2)

Fall 2003 Capstones Projects: Team #1: Collaborative Open Courseware

(COC) Development Community Site Prototype.

Team #2: XML Schema and tools for the COC model.

Authoring: White paper. Technical papers.



Conclusions

COC has the potentials to change how courseware is developed.

COC may complement other approaches. The COC team is working on various

technical issues and proposal development.

Related Topics for potential theses and capstone projects exist.

Want to join us?



Thank you and discussion!

1 A Model for Collaborative Open Courseware By Bun Yue at CSCI 6530 Research Methods September 2003.

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