Questions related to open educational resources

Education is quickly becoming a contentious issue within the United States. For one, globalization has created a much more robust competitive dynamic with other foreign firms and entities around the world. These countries, including India and China are now dominating many of the STEM related fields that many pundits predict are critical for economic growth. Likewise, America appears to be struggling with large variances between K though 12 education. On a per capita basis, the United States spends the most on education relative to any of the other developed countries in the world. However, the returns from these investments have not materialize as America falls far behind its developed peers as it relates to scoring on STEM related fields. This is particularly concerning considering the high degree of reliance the jobs of the future will have on STEM related disciplines. Without proper education, America could potentially lose its market leading position in many of the disciplines of the future (Caswell, 2008).

To counteract these alarming trends, organizations throughout America have looked to adopt innovative new techniques to better educate society. One such innovation is Open Education Resources which are designed to quickly and efficiently use, adapt and share information. OER’s are unique in that they attempt to provide access to best education materials irrespective of socio-economic status or connections. Through proper use of OER’s the best resources can seamlessly and easily be transferred between those who need the information. This ultimately will help improve education outcomes as the best instruction techniques and materials are used in a freely available manner.

1. What did you like about each OER, and why?

The two Open Education Resources that I reviewed are “Academic Earth” and “Coursera.” Immediately, the breadth and depth of education options becomes clearly apparent when reviewing both product offerings. Each offers course in high demand, high paying careers such as accounting, finance, data engineering, and data analytics. The courses on Academic Earth are separated in the small, digestible sizes which allows consumers to learn at their own pace, for free. Both programs also heavily vet their materials to ensure the latest and most up to date information is being leveraged by consumers utilizing their product. This is a critical component as it helps to eliminate obsolescence or the use of antiquated information within the course curriculum (Clinton, 2019).

In addition, both Open Education Resources provide “certificates,” “ LinkedIn Badges” and other forms of recognition that encourage individuals to fully complete their respective course work. This is particularly important, as these forms of acknowledgement allows students who have successful leveraged the course resources to be recognized for their hard work and achievement. Secondly, it shows employers that dedication and skills set that the individual has achieved making it more likely for them to hire the individual within their respective business units. This ultimately proves to be a win-win situation as consumers are encouraged to fully complete course work while employers are assured of the skills the potential job applicant has obtained.

2. What did you dislike about each OER, and why?

For Academic Earth, their appears to be too much sales-oriented rhetoric on the website. This detracts from the “Free” elements of the product offering. For example, Academic Earth promotes programs on its home page that take you to other University websites. These university websites then charge for the programs that where just promoted as “Free” on the academic earth platform. Admittedly, these programs are still very cost effective and are much less than traditional educational platforms. However, the Academic Earth website is somewhat misleading in this regard (Huijser, 2008).

Some of the programs being offered are not as comprehensive as they should be for many disciplines such as accounting or finance. The courses provide basic introductory information but don’t allow for options to further study that is much more sophisticated in nature. Ultimately, these courses, which are often required to develop the expertise required to land a higher paying job are locked behind programs that require payment. Again, this is not necessarily negative, but it can be misconstrued as misleading for those looking for a fully free experience (Clinton, 2018).

Coursera was much more comprehensive and intuitive to utilize and understand. It was much easier to differentiate which courses were free and which courses required payment. Enrollment dates were much more visible and comprehensive. Likewise, the application provided visible reviews that allowed consumers to make better informed decisions regarding their overall course selection.

For one of the OER, please answer these questions:

3. How easy to use is the OER for the intended audience (instructors/instructional designers or students)?

As noted above, Coursera was very easy and intuitive to utilize. For one, the search function is located in a very prominent position on the homepage allowing for seamless exploration of available courses. Each course also has review that also help consumers to make better informed investment decisions as it relates to their time. The intended audience also have access to very clear course descriptions and if required, payment options. Overall the website is very intuitive and easy to use for the intended audience.

4. What were the primary interactions that the OER could afford?

The primary interactions that the OER could afford were heavily related to interactions with perspective consumers. Here, these interactions revolved around “Search” and consumer engagement with programs that are in high demand. Interesting topics such as “Block Chain” and “Crypto Currency” provide interactions with consumers that are much more engaging and comprehensive.

5. What were the best and worst design features you saw? For the worst design features, what were your initial thoughts on improving them?

The best features are the search function, course description and certification process. The website is very simple and not fully of flowery language or jargon. The worst design function relates to the online degree and certification options. Much like the Academic Earth product offering, Coursera often redirects clients to other university websites where information may not be consistent. Here, if often appears that updates made on university websites and courses often are not reflected on the Coursera website. This, from a design perspective can cause a misalignment of information that can confuse consumers looking to pursue an online degree or certificate.