#LIDA 101,
from my point of view I’d rather say that OER in higher education is helping most people around the world especially the online or OPEN learning system, but after graduating with flying colors many have debts which they owe to the government to settle…why is that so? if the government wants to take the education standard to a next level why not pay every students fees because some cannot afford that kind of amount.
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I really do enjoy watching Anya Kamenetz’s talk,it was really interesting but also I did not agree that the main role of a teacher is to answer a student question and to help him or to to evaluate the answer or the solution.I also excited of listening to her talking about the old master plan for education/society on how it is melting down,but the main point here is that in today or years to come in higher education,Iam sure and will be excited to see people/students use technology for education.
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Well, after watching the video of Anya Kamenetz of I totally agree with her on the costs of learning. After all, money is always the problem. Now, thanks to the open education online education can be given to anyone around the world as a community.
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Based on the growth till today it can surely be stated that there is the brightest future of digital education.as per the data of nft marketplaces it has been found out that students are mostly preferring digital education rather than the traditional means of education.
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Anya Kamenetz’s TED talk is even more relevant today than it was when it came out in 2010. I initially graduated in 2010, and it was not the best time to graduate with an English degree. I imagined going into publishing; however, 2010 was in the middle of the recession when hiring new employees was not widespread. Publishing was also going through an identity crisis at the time due to the fear of print going completely out of fashion and use.
The problem I experienced was that employers did not care about a degree at least not without enough relevant experience, which I lacked. Micro-credentials and online courses have become acceptable means of qualification over recent years; however, these courses need to be recognised and accredited for them to be helpful and the ones that are already accredited are prohibitively expensive.
In South Africa, there is a push for free education ( see #feesmustfall ), but even if student enrollment is paid for, the textbook costs are prohibitive; even the library can’t afford more than 5 or 6 copies of any given textbook if we offer a free education we need to make the resources accessible too.
I hope that a course like this will help my own career as I try to move up my organisation’s ladder; I at least hope to display my motivation for continuous learning through my unsolicited efforts at bettering myself.
As I work in an Academic library, I feel my job is to promote the use and development of OERs among teachers and learners here. The students at my institutions struggle with affording textbooks, so if we could get the curriculum to revolve around openly accessible resources, it would go a long way to upping our graduation rate and the marks of those graduates.
Micro-credentials will hopefully bring education and employment closer to each other, so what is taught is closer to what is needed in the real world. This will work best if the industry involves itself directly in the course development by giving input as to what they are looking for and possibly even offering work integrated learning to accompany course work.
The one problem in South Africa is access to technology and the internet. So many OERs rely on technology to access and use. South Africa has come a long way in getting our students online since the first lockdowns in 2020; however, there are still many issues that need resolving, and we need to start by offering the internet as a public good to everyone.
Lida101 #Lida101 #LIDA101notes #OERfutures
Higher education is unaffordable for most post-Grade 12 students in Namibia. Passing Grade 12 doesn’t automatically mean that you enter into higher education unless your parents have already made provision. It is very expensive to want to pay for higher education from your pocket. There is national funding known as NSFAF which assists a certain percent of students in terms of learning. However, there is also just so much they can do. NSFAF is government funded, therefore there is no follow up regarding repayments etc.
The number of students funded through the above scheme keeps decreasing each year, hence it is not sustainable at all. Public higher education institutions’ budgets have been cut and institutions are now required to raise their own funding through capital projects and training initiatives to bring in money.
CILT,the centre where I work, is currently offering online pedagogy training to the general public at a certain fee. The funding contributed from centres/departments is known as “4th stream income.” My centre’s strategy is to develop and facilitate short course training to the general public periodically to generate funds as a long-term strategy.
I agree with Anya, specifically on open content, open teaching and monitoring and on open accreditation.It requires spending time and investing in your learning to standout amongst the crowd, to have competivie advanctage over others in terms of competence, skills and attitude demanded by work place. If OERs are available and free, there is no excuse as to why you dont have a certain skills, because all other variable such as poor economic background, low income, fulltime studies etc fall away automatically as all this factors dont have an impact on your ability to obtain qualififications dont matter anymore.
Well said, no obstacles as to why we cannot empower ourselves through open and accessible learning.