1 Web-Based Open Content Communities for Technical Education By Kwok-Bun Yue (joint work with Andrew Yang, Wei Ding & Ping Chen) University of Houston-Clear Lake Innovation 2004 at NASA JSC Gilruth Center August 20, 2004

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 2 Abstracts n Describe a model for building an Open Content Community (OCC) for developing educational materials. u Based on the Open Source Software (OSS) model. u High degree of collaboration. u Comprehensive. u Content rich. u Freely distributable.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 3 Contents n Introduction n Related Work: Existing Models n The Basic UHCL OCC Model n More UHCL OCC Model Details n Conclusions and Future Work

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 4 Introduction: Effective Technical Education n Learning and teaching customized to individuals: catering to varying u Background u Need u Interest u Capability u Learning and Teaching Style

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 5 The Problem Domain Raw Educational Materials Courseware Issues: Development Management Interoperability … Issues: Quality Completeness Richness Freely Distributable …

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 6 Courseware Development n Development/Management: e.g. CMS/LMS such as WebCT, Blackboard, etc. n Interoperability/reusability: knowledge captures; e.g. SCORM, OKI, etc. n A lot of activities: but not our basic concern.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 7 Educational Material Development Raw Educational Materials Learners/students Courseware Instructors

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 8 Existing Internet Resources n Varying quality. n Scattered n Contents may not be rich. n Contents may not be complete. n May have copyright problems.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 9 Desirable Features n Desirable features of educational materials: u Quality u Comprehensive: completeness u Rich content: abundance of materials u Freely accessible/distributable u Ease of uses

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 10 Current Section n Introduction  Related Work: Existing Models n The Basic UHCL OCC Model n More UHCL OCC Model Details n Conclusions and Future Work

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 11 One Approach: Repositories n Various kinds of repositories. u May address some of the problems u But usually not all.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 12 Educational Repositories n Comparing different models/sites: u Merlot: u MIT’s Open CourseWare: u Rice’s Connexion Project:

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 13 Merlot (1) n Free annotations and reviewed links to external resources. n example resource link. example resource link n Addressed: u Quality: peer review by panels. u Richness: repository. n Not well addressed: copyright, completeness, ease of uses.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 14 Merlot (2)

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 15 Merlot (3)

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 16 MIT Open CourseWare (1) n n About 500 open courseware now. n All 2,000 courses open by n Open license based on Creative Commons. n Extremely successful: u Wired magazine article: html MIT’s full commitment and well funded. html

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 17 MIT Open Courseware (2) n High quality n Open source-like copyright n Ease of use: especially for students n Richness: limited by courses n Completeness: topics limited by MIT offering; contents set by MIT authors n Collaboration: within MIT. n Community: not interactive.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 18 MIT OCW Example

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 19 Rice's Connexions Project (1) n an example: CNXML. n Collaborative, community-driven approach for courseware development. n Module-based and open source. n Connexions modules:

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 20 Rice's Connexions Project (2) n Coarse-grained object model. n Tools for authoring and browsing courseware. n CNXML to capture courseware.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 21 Rice's Connexions Project (3) n Quality: post-publication community- based reviews; smaller sets of authors. n Richness: limited by modules. n Copyright: open source n Ease of uses: dedicated tools with high consistency. n Completeness: depends on developers; no structure for support.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 22 Open Source Software (OSS) n Highly successful. n Not just a software, but a development model. n Applicable to courseware development?

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 23 SourceForge.net n n Community-based site for open source software (OSS) development. n Provides services, tools, visibility, etc, to OSS projects. n April 28, 2004: u Hosted Projects: 80,230 (+12,000 in 7 months) u Registered Users: 837,960 (+140,000)

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 24 Some OSS Lessons n Community-based: sourceforge.net. n High degree of collaboration. n Maintained by dedicated developers. n Natural evolution: survival of the fitness. n Low cost of entry => natural evolution. n Flexibility => natural evolution.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 25 Brief Summary n Many repositories with different models. n Each has its strength and weakness. n None (except Rice’s Connexions) close to OSS in building a OSS-like community.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 26 Current Section n Introduction n Related Work: Existing Models  The Basic UHCL OCC Model n More UHCL OCC Model Details n Conclusions and Future Work

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 27 The UHCL OCC model n Similar approach to Rice's Connexion project: u Community-based u Open source n Differences: u Different use case model u Object model F Finer grain F More flexible structure

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 28 Model Design n UCHL OCC: u Lightweight u Tightly modeling sourceforge.net. u Educational materials: “cut and paste”. u Courseware development: secondary. u Courseware hosting: optional.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 29 Simplified Connexions Objects Module Course 0..* use

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 30 Connexions Module

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 31 Connexions Design n High consistency and ease of use n CNXML to capture knowledge. n Suitable for content development/courseware hosting.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 32 Potential Issues in Connexions n Higher cost of entry: developers need to develop an entire module; cannot contribute just an example or a case study, for example; have pros & cons. n Lower degree of collaboration. n Lack of structures in modules: u To enhance completeness u For browsing.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 33 UHCL OCC Object Model

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 34 OCC Modules n Modules: independent units for topics and subtopics. n May contain or require other modules. n Modules may contain embedded or external Knowledge Units (KU).

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 35 OCC KU n Knowledge Units (KU) are actual educational contents: lecture notes, exercises, examples, assignments, resource links, case studies, etc. n KU exist independently by themselves. n A KU can be used by many modules.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 36 OCC Courses n Courses are collections of modules and KUs. n Unlike Rice's Connexions, courses are not necessarily hosted in the OCC site. n Instructors pick, mix and modify to build their own courses.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 37 Current Section n Introduction n Related Work: Existing Models n The Basic UHCL OCC Model  More OCC Model Details n Conclusions and Future Work

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 38 OCC users n Workgroups: create and manage the projects; plan required modules. n Developers: develop modules and KU. n Instructors: access OCC repository to create courses; share experience. n Regular users: access OCC repository to learn.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 39 OCC Object Contents n Two options: u Any format the workgroup of the project wants to use. u OCC's supplied XML.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 40 OCC Site n Features (model after sourceforge.net): u Support the OCC model. u Version Controls. u Community building tools: help wanted, module/KU request, bug fixes, etc. u Quality Control: pre- and post-publication reviews. u Browsing and searching features u Promotional features

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 41 OCC Quality Control n Support both kinds of review: u Pre-publications u Post-publications n OCC provides a range of pre- publication review mechanisms for projects to use.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 42 Benefits of the UHCL OCC model n Low cost of entry u Finer objects u More flexibility: workgroups select the best format/process for their projects. n High degree collaboration n Structures to plan sub-modules for completeness n Complementary to other approach, such as Rice’s Connexions.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 43 The UHCL OCC Solution n Copyright: open source n Quality: varying n Richness: high level of collaboration. n Completeness: high level of collaboration; structures for planning sub-modules.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 44 Current Section n Introduction n Related Work: Existing Models n The Basic UHCL OCC Model n More UHCL OCC Model Details  Conclusions and Future Work

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 45 Conclusions (1) n Presented a model of OCC for developing educational materials based on OSS.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 46 Conclusions (2) n Individual ideas: nothing new. n Putting it together: u Potentials u Challenges n Worthy to attempt: sourceforge.net for educational materials.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 47 Sustainable Business Model? n Low development cost n Low maintenance cost n Sourceforge.net is a good precedence.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 48 OCC Team n Kwok-Bun Yue, Andrew Yang and Wei Ding (UHCL) n Ping Chen (UHD).

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 49 What Have Been Done? n Have built a beta prototype system: u Support the basic OCC model u Some form of version control. u Some community building tools: helps wanted; module request. u Some browsing and searching features u Some promotional features

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 50 Publications n Yue, K., Yang, T., Ding, W. & Chen, P., A model for open content communities to support effective learning and teaching, Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Web-based Communities 2004, pp , Lisbon, Portugal, April Yue, K., Yang, T., Ding, W. & Chen, P., Open Courseware and Computer Science Education, accepted by the Thirteenth Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges: Rocky Mountain Conference, October 22-23, 2004, Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 51 Future Work n Build a more stable OCC prototype with a fuller set of features. n Invite developers/instructors to start projects. n Get seed funding. n Write technical papers.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 52 Summary n OCC has the potentials to change how course material is developed. n OCC may complement other approaches. n The OCC team is working on various technical issues and proposal development.

May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 53 Thank you and discussion!