This spring, I took a class called “Knowledge, Media and Learning”, where one of the assignments was to do research and create a design proposal. Together with Rebecca Cober and Lixa Lin, we decided to look at the research workflow for a junior researcher, such as a graduate student. Although we could think of many [...]
I completed my MA thesis on the Chinese National Top Level Courses Project in September 2010, and since then, I have been experimenting with publishing the results in a variety of different formats. I not only made available the classic double-spaced nicely formatted PDF, but also a more compressed two-column single-spaced version fit for printing, [...]
Existing approaches to course-based OER There are generally two approaches to course-based “big OER” (institutional OER projects, as opposed to resources released by individual professors or others). The first is the MIT OpenCourseWare approach (which has been replicated by universities across the US, and the world). Given that professors are already developing a set of materials [...]
I first became aware of the explosion in interest around foreign open courses in China when I was asked for an interview by a Chinese reporter writing about this phenomenon (interview in Chinese). Instead of the traditional 开放式课程 (kaifangshi kecheng) – quite a literal translation of “open courses / open courseware”, the new term being [...]
Ever since I began the research on my MA thesis on the Chinese Top Level Courses Project, I was aware that I wanted to get the thesis translated into Chinese. Not only because I believe it’s the only ethical thing to do – when so many people in China have gone out of their way [...]
I have always been interested in Open Educational Resources from around the world, and in my presentations, I do my best to highlight not just MIT and Stanford, but also the amazing contributions from Indira Gandhi National Open University in India, the Virtual University of Pakistan, the open textbooks from Indonesia, the Chinese Top Level [...]
Open Access Week is a great idea – now in its fourth year, it really enables communities to come together across the world to promote the concept of Open Access. Last year, we had a number of very successful events at University of Toronto, I gave a talk about institutional models for OER (video, Mp3, [...]
I have been thinking a lot about what would be the ideal file format for for example dissertations. The dissertations category is a nice example, because the institutions have basically complete control – they can ask you to do whatever they want, to graduate, and you will do it. For example, my institutions require that [...]
I really enjoy giving presentations and talks. They are a great way for me to think through my ideas, and systematize them, and I can trace some of my ideas now through a series of talk as they were gradually developed (with help from the audience). I try to be an interesting and engaging speaker [...]
I am currently listening to the Introduction to Sociology course from the Virtual University of Pakistan, whose video lectures I described in a previous post. The course is taught by Dr. Muhammad Anwar, and curious to find some information about him, I googled his name. I came across this discussion about his course, where former [...]
