Most recent public comments by Marcia Schick https://nowcomment.com/users/25492 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=640348 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=640348 I was speaking with friend that work for a large corporation and I was showing him the OER sites. He wanted to know more about the OER courses. His first reason for wanting to know more was in regards to using content for professional training. His second reason was because of the shortage they are experiencing with finding qualified people. In looking at some of the courses in the technical area he would consider hiring people that was taking OER courses. Just a month ago we had a former K-8 teacher speak to us about a program he started at his former school. The 8th grade students took Microsoft courses on Word, Excel,and Access. In collaboration with the company he works with now, they paid for students to take the Microsoft Certification Exam. When I think about these 2 scenarios, I wonder - Will OER courses being a whole new apprenticeship for the corporate world? Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:31:24 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=638048 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=638048 They had a very interesting webinar about the same concerns that we are discussing in the article. They are a wonderful group and I will be attending more of their sessions. Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:31:24 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=636645 https://nowcomment.com/documents/65469?scroll_to=636645 At this time, I am part of the committee that is looking into using OER. My role will be to see if the content can be imported into the LMS (Canvas). One very important reason that we are looking into using OER is because of cost. The administration is hoping to have the faculty develop courses that do not require textbooks. By not having textbooks, we will be reducing the cost of college for the students. The questions that are asked in this article are the same questions we in the committee are asking. There as been quite a bit of debate about the quality of the content and how the content is being vetted. At the higher education level, the libraries are developing web sites that provide to links to OER resources. http://nmc.libguides.com/oer4mcc/resources The hope is that the libraries will be able to provide faculty with vetted content. Just in the last couple of weeks, I have been working with faculty on importing content into Canvas. We are running into some issues that will make using the OER resources difficult because it will be more then a 2 steps process on get content into the system. I have learned that the more clicks it takes the less likely faculty are to using the content. If we are hoping to use OER resources, I will need to find a way of converting the files so it will be an easy import into the system. Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:31:24 -0400