Risks and Benefits of Using Open Technologies for Teaching

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

Risks and Benefits of Using Open Technologies for Teaching by Jonathan Acuña