Risks and Benefits of Using Open
Technologies for Teaching
Potential issues of using open technologies for teaching
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano
Sunday, July 11, 2015
Twitter: @jonacuso
Post 185
What are open technologies for
teaching? These sort of technologies are “often referred to as Web 2.0 or
social media” (University
of New South Wales, n.d.) . They are of free use, but not
necessarily linked to educational processes per
se. “Open access technologies are usually designed around specific
functions or tasks” (University of New South Wales, n.d.) , which are somehow
limiting for the users but also limited in what they can produce.
Are open access technologies that bad?
Nope! In the absence of institutionally supported technologies, such as an LMS,
they are excellent and provide the instructor with some key benefits. If an
educator wants to use Web 2.0 tools in a course, it means that students may already
be familiarized with it and have never considered their use of learning
purposes. These technologies require very little training, and oftentimes
tutorials are available to help new users get ready to use them. Additionally,
they are free and constantly upgraded, provide collaboration features and some
sort of privacy settings (University
of New South Wales, n.d.) . What any instructor needs is to really
know the Web 2.0 tool to provide some sort of technical support to learners
since questions may arise.
What
are the drawbacks of open educational resources for instruction? No doubt that
the very first problem to face is technological issues. “Some students
may have trouble using some OERs [Open Educational Resources] if they have a
slow or erratic Internet connection. Other OERs may require software that
students don’t have and that they may not be able to afford” (University of Maryland University College, 2015) . Additionally, when
instructors start using Web 2.0 tools, they may find out that these tools are
not compatible with or cannot be embedded onto their institution’s LMS;
consequently, “no formal record” of grades can be kept, having the teachers to
manually include marks on the school’s system (University
of New South Wales, n.d.) . Some of these open access technologies
do not protect students’ privacy, and that can be a headache for both teachers
and learners. The UMUC Library points out that intellectually property is
another issue to consider when using OERs since “all content put online must be checked to ensure that it doesn’t violate
copyright law” (University of Maryland University College, 2015) . Having stated this,
instructors must be guarding learners so they do not get into plagiarism
trouble.
Educators wanting to use open access technologies
to speed up pupils’ learning process need to consider both their advantages and
disadvantages. In some cases, the fact that they are not compatible or
embeddable onto an LMS does not mean they cannot be used, but they will require
adjustments to be integrated into their summative assessment. Privacy is an
issue, and it must be carefully thought over by teachers. Web 2.0 tools’
privacy settings must be explored plentifully to guarantee that learners will not
be exposed to threats coming from other users of the Web, especially if
students are underage. OERs are great tools, especially when a learning
institution does not have any learning management system (LMS) nor any content
management system (CMS); educators just need to be careful and sure of which
open access technologies are going to be used, their pros and cons, and the
reasons to use them.
University of Maryland University College. (2015, March 15). Open
Educational Resources. Retrieved from UMUC Library:
http://libguides.umuc.edu/oer
University of New South Wales. (n.d.). Open and
Institutionally Supported Technologies. Retrieved from Learning to Teach
Online MOOC.: https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/ltto/pdf/LTTO_M2%
20Open%20or%20LMS.pdf
20Open%20or%20LMS.pdf
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The best way to implement technology in learning is to use an LMS. As you wrote it’s easy to be mastered and it’s highly convenient. I hope one day it’ll be a standard in education.