1 A Model for Collaborative Open Courseware By Bun Yue at CSCI 6530 Research Methods September 2003

http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 2 Abstract n Present a Collaborative Open Courseware (COC) Model with the following properties: u Modeled after the successful open source software development model u Fine-grained object model u High level of collaboration u Rich contents

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 3 Contents n Introduction and Related Works n The UHCL's COC Model n Current Status n Conclusions

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 4 Introduction n Instructors put course materials into the Web. u Many may have 'free' copyright. u Benefits: free, quick access. u Potential Problems: F Quality F Copyright F Completeness F Richness F Ease of uses u Good resources scattered

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 5 One Approach: Repositories n Various kinds of repositories. u May address some of the problems u But usually not all. n Example: (JavascriptSources.com): richness, ease of uses. n Not addressed: quality, copyright, completeness.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 6 Merlot n n Free and open higher education resources; example resource link.example resource link n Address: u Quality: peer review by panels. u Richness: repository. n Not well addressed: copyright, completeness, ease of uses.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 7 MIT Open Courseware (1) n n MIT: 500 open courseware now. n All 2,000 courseware open and free by n Extremely successful: u Wired magazine article: mit_pr.html mit_pr.html

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 8 MIT Open Courseware (2) n Very high quality n Open source-like copyright n Ease of use: especially for students n Richness: limited by sizes of lecture notes n Completeness: topics limited by MIT offering; contents set by MIT authors n Collaboration: within MIT.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 9 Rice's Connexion Project (1) n an example: CNXML. n Collaborative, community-driven approach for courseware development. n Module-based and open source. n Coarse-grained object model. n Tools for authoring and browsing courseware. n CNXML to capture courseware.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 10 Rice's Connexion's Project (2) n Quality: post-publication community- based reviews; smaller sets of authors. n Richness: community-based; more collaboration; limited by modules. n Copyright: open source n Ease of uses: dedicated tools with high consistency. n Completeness: community-based.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 11 SourceForge.net (1) n n Community-based site for open source software (OSS) development. n Provides services, tools, visibility, etc, to OSS projects. n September 15, 2003: u Hosted Projects: 68,184 u Registered Users: 698,972

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 12 SourceForge.net (2) n Lessons u Low cost of entry u Projects managed by dedicated developers. u Community maintains quality: feature request and bug fix request u Natural evolution u Flexibility required for evolution.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 13 The UHCL's COC model (1) n Similar approach to Rice's Connexion project: u Community-based u Open source n Difference: u Finer-grained object model u More flexibility

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 14 Simplified Rice's Connexion Class Diagram Module Course 0..* use

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 15 Simplified COC's Class Diagram

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 16 COC Model: Units n Units may contain and require other units. n Subunits may belong to many units. n Subunits exist on their own terms. n Units may contains embedded artifacts and external artifacts.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 17 COC Model: Artifacts n Artifacts are actual course contents: lecture notes, exercises, examples, glossary, assignments, resource links, case studies. n Artifacts exist independently by themselves. n An artifact may be used by many units.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 18 CIC Model: Courses n Courses are collections of units and artifacts. n Unlike Rice's Connexions, courses are not necessarily hosted in COC site. n Instructors pick and mix to build their own courses.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 19 COC users n Workgroup: create and manage the project; plan required units. n Developers: develop units and artifacts. n Instructors: access COC repository to create courses and share experience. n Regular users: access COC repository to learn.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 20 COC Course Content Format n Two options: u Any format the workgroup of the project wants to use. u COC's supplied XML.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 21 COC's Quality Control n Support both kinds of review: u Pre-publications u Post-publications n COC site provides a range of pre- publication review mechanisms for projects to use.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 22 Benefits of COC's model n Low cost of entry u Finer objects u More flexibility n More collaboration n Structures to plan subunits

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 23 COC Model Approach n Copyright: open source n Quality: varying n Ease of use: good for instructors and students, but no consistent format. n Richness: high level of collaboration. n Completeness: high level of collaboration; structures for planning subunits.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 24 COC Current Status (1) n Research Team: Kwok-Bun Yue, Andrew Yang, Wei Ding and Ping Chen (UHD). n Grant Activities: u Institute of Space Systems Operation (ISS0): funded small seed grant. u National Science Foundation: submitted curriculum and development prototyping proposal. u Looking for other funding sources.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 25 COC Current Status (2) n Fall 2003 Capstones Projects: u Team #1: Collaborative Open Courseware (COC) Development Community Site Prototype.Collaborative Open Courseware (COC) Development Community Site Prototype u Team #2: XML Schema and tools for the COC model.XML Schema and tools for the COC model n Authoring: u White paper. u Technical papers.

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 26 Conclusions n COC has the potentials to change how courseware is developed. n COC may complement other approaches. n The COC team is working on various technical issues and proposal development. n Related Topics for potential theses and capstone projects exist. n Want to join us?

September 2003http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; 27 Thank you and discussion!