Social Authoring Raising Quality and Access to Online Course Content Ruth Rominger Director of Learning Design National Repository of Online Courses Module 4

Social Authoring The National Repository of Online Courses is using an innovative social authoring model to bring together a group of dispersed faculty to collaboratively author course material using an online workspace, supported and produced by the NROC Development team. Disperse assignments among authors by interest and expertise Brainstorm, contribute, new ideas for presenting and using content

NROC Network For educators, designers, technologists, and administrators working together to promote the continuous improvement of online courses through collaborative development of high- quality content and instruction.

NROC Support Team Educational nonprofit Committed to improving access to high quality education Specialize in collaborative projects Small team of experts in multimedia development, education, publishing and management Managed by the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education

NROC Online Community Where members meet, collaborate, share, and learn

Why Social Authoring High-quality and rich media, usually beyond the means of institutions Multi-modal learning experiences for students Allows instructor to focus on designing the learning experience Saves time and money

What is Social Authoring Authors Designers Producers Users Technologists Continuous Improvement Cycle

Current Conditions Technology Leading Change –Web, PowerPoint, Course Management Systems… Open Source Movement –Effort to make high quality, open, non-commercial technology and content Web Participation Rules – Raising the bar on networking, interactivity and media production (mainly outside of education) Online Learning - the New Normal? –90% colleges offer online content

Academia’s Response Research Following Practice Online education = learning?, What works? “No significant difference” Faculty working alone 90% courses are text with external links Most linked content is proprietary, from commercial publishers, with instructor lecture notes Same material, same teaching style, new delivery Most not informed by learning theory Open Education Resources Open access movement - sharing faculty-made content Creative Commons-free/share alike/non-commercial

Schools are duplicating small investments (on the same courses) No faculty or campus alone has resources for high-quality development Inconsistent use of learning theory, best practices Collaborate on course topics, build library of subjects Pool resource and expertise for highest quality course material Shared guidelines, grounded in learning theory Status QuoSocial Authoring Problems & Solutions

Alone v. Together Lone author expectation is unrealistic Lack of expertise, time, rewards Material not shared, maintained Distribute workload in diverse, collaborative teams Release time, incentives, rewards for social authoring Network Team supports faculty/authors, provides expertise and maintenance Status QuoSocial Authoring

OER objects fragmented, quality varies, not in context Technically restrictive, incompatible Financial and Technical models not sustainable Learning Objects composed into coherent courses Designed for technical interoperability, customization Shared membership provides ongoing development support, maintenance, and distribution Status QuoSocial Authoring Addressing the Challenges

Social Authoring Model Collaborative Authoring Core Author Team Create lesson content Share author credit Contributing Authors Contributing select parts, e.g.,activities, discussions Contributing author recognition Supporting Authors/Users Critique, review, Add small content contributions Collaborator recognition

NROC Quality Guidelines Learner Assessment Knowledge Community 1. Technology 2. Content 3. Media 4. Design 5. Pedagogy Instructor 6. Interaction 7. Assignments 8. Assessment 9. Access 10. Support Complete guidelines downloadable from MontereyInstitute.org and NROCNetwork.org Integrated Theories

Engineering Objectives Objective: create highly interoperable, flexible and uniform sets of course elements that work in various course management systems share a common course model and navigation may be augmented to form new courses can be modified by instructors can be independent of a particular textbook developed in a community of collaborators in academia

Consistent Structure Course elements are formatted and organized in a systematic structure to… Import into a variety of CMSs Import into content repositories

Sharing: Give and Get Use NROC content to enhance an existing course Add your unique content to enhance the course Or use to supplement hybrid or classroom content for students

Rights of Use Authors-Contributors receive perpetual rights for personal use Authors’ institution have perpetual rights of use, when contributing during active NROC membership NROC retains rights to distribute to –NROC member institutions for customization –Open access sites for self-study –Projects in underserved communities

Course Example

The Process: Authors Online Workspace opened Content Outline posted for feedback Templates for content scripting downloaded Authors post sample scripts for review

The Process: Designers NROC Design/Production review scripts to develop design treatment & production plan Feedback given to authors for revision, additions NROC produces learning objects (working with campus media centers when available) Authors Designers Producers

The Process: Techies Quality Assurance – content and technical check Mastering and Dissemination – NROC makes available through various channels

The Process: User Feedback NROC Network members provide continual feedback through online community discussions and the online Support community

Collaborate with your colleagues and raise the quality of your online courses! Join the Network for Quality Contact NROC with Ideas and questions at NROCNetwork.org Contact NROC with Ideas and questions at NROCNetwork.org

For more information about joining a social authoring project, contact us: NROC Network Sign up in the Expert Database Ruth Rominger Terri Rowenhorst Monterey Institute for Technology and Education Contact Us