1 A Platform for Interactive Learning An Open Educational Resource (OER) C. Sidney Burrus The Connexions Project, Rice University September 26, 2007

2 Disruptive Technologies Disruptive technologies change the world in two phases: 1.The new technology first does what the old technology did, only better. Results are often “Intended Consequences” 2.The new technology then redefines the problem, asks new questions that were not possible in the first phase. Where surprising innovation is observed. Results often “Unintended Consequences”

3 Two Phases of the Web Web 1.0: HTML, presentation (looks and layout), hypertext links, searchable, two dimensional. Contains shared data and information. Readable by people. Web 2.0: XML, presentation and content, meta-data, smart hypertext links, smart searchable, three dimensional. Contains data, information, and some knowledge! Readable by people and machines.

4 Open Educational Resources The Open Educational Resource (OER) movement was inspired by the Open Source movement in software. Open Course Ware “OCW” (MIT) Connexions “Cnx” (Rice) Wikipedia (Wikibooks, etc.) Open Society Institute “OSI” (Soros Foun.) PLoS, PubMed, EOL, etc.

5 What is Connexions? 1.A repository of “ chunks ” of information Modules encoded in XML, one concept, a few pages, a quantum of information content 2.A set of tools for authoring, maintaining and using the repository Module editor, importer, course or book composer, repository organizer, Creative Commons license, tools for printing books 3.A community of people who share educational interests and information Interest groups (authors, instructors, students), shared workspaces

6 Books and On-Line Use with XML Books from Connexions: Personalized, on-demand printing, up-to-date, inexpensive, collaboratively authored, allows pre and post publication review, never “out of print”, “Long tail” publications. One button buy On-Line use of Connexions: Allows modern pedagogy: concept-based, problem solving-based, discovery-based learning. Dynamic, interactive, linked, adapts to learning style, student and author driven, allows assessment and evaluation”

7 Create, Author stanford illinois michigan wisconsin berkeley ohio state ga tech utep rice cambridge norway italy

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9 Two References 1.R. G. Baraniuk, C. S. Burrus, Don Johnson, and D. L. Jones, “Sharing Knowledge and Building Communities in Signal Processing”, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Sept Richard G. Baraniuk, “Create, Rip, Mix, and Burn Educational Material”, video of talk in the World Flattens session at TED in Monterey, CA, given Feb, 2006.

10 Vietnam opencourseware MOET

11 Author of Music Content Catherine Schmidt-Jones 600,000+ page views per month [December 2005] many by US K-12 teachers

12 Connexions in Spanish DSPanish

13 Interactive, Dynamic Virtual Lab

14 Multimedia

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16 Global use of Connexions Possible tool to respond to the challenges of the present and future Training and education of the workforce for the 21st century. Becoming part of an international community using a global standard technology in Higher Education. Not fragmented.

17 Global use of Connexions Allows progressive teaching techniques at all levels and in all disciplines. Leap-frogs old educational methods and jumps into the future (the way cell phones are doing). Connexions is currently being used in Asia. Allows scaling. Produce high quality, accessible educational content in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French for the Western Hemisphere

18 Global use of Connexions Supports traditional class rooms, distance education, virtual labs, self learning, teacher training Compatible and integratable with course manage and assessment systems: Moodle, Sakai, etc Makes education accessible to all. Is sustainable, is scalable

19 Two Global References 1.C. S. Burrus, R. G. Baraniuk, J. P. Frantz, and C. Holmes, “Connexions: Sharing Knowledge and Building Communities for Global Education”, Proceedings of the ASEE International Colloquium on Engineering Education, Beijing, China, Richard G. Baraniuk and C. Sidney Burrus, Plenary talk, “Connexions in the Americas”, ASEE Global Colloquium on Engineering Education: Engineering Education in the Americas and Beyond, Rio de Janeiro, 2006.

20 eXtendable Markup Language XML can also be thought of as “X” being an unknown that can be defined: mathMLx 3 + 7x 2 – 2x + 1 = 0 chemistryMLH 2 O musicML(a music score) “whatever you are teaching”ML where the rules of your subject define the markup language. The language “understands” your subject!! The XMLs use semantic “tags” and meta-data

21 Selected Partners Foothill-De Anza Community College

22 Current State Usage Repository: 4500 modules, 18,000 revisions, 250 courses or books, 7000 author accounts, 147 countries, In Sept. 2006: 17M hits, 1.2M pages views, 520K unique users from 157 countries Globalization Europe: Germany, Norway, England, etc. Asia: China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea(?) LACCEI: ?? (conversation with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay started)

23 Peer Review Connexions: inclusive open-contribution policy how to find high quality materials? what is quality? who decides? who is the expert? Post-review rather than pre-review system wikipedia, bloggers poster sessions at a conference

24 The Connexions Project was started at Rice University in 1999, but now is global and one of the most used OERs worldwide. An invitation to you and your project If you are interested in being involved in Connexions, see or contact: