1. 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 Yue@cl.uh.edu

2. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

3. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

4. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

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

6. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

8. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

9. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

10. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

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

12. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 12 Educational Repositories n Comparing different models/sites: u Merlot: http://www.merlot.org/Home.po.http://www.merlot.org/Home.po u MIT’s Open CourseWare: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html u Rice’s Connexion Project: http://cnx.rice.edu/. http://cnx.rice.edu/

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

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

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

16. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 16 MIT Open CourseWare (1) n http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html n About 500 open courseware now. n All 2,000 courses open by 2007. n Open license based on Creative Commons. n Extremely successful: u Wired magazine article: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/mit_pr. html MIT’s full commitment and well funded. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/mit_pr. html

17. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

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

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

21. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

23. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 23 SourceForge.net n http://sourceforge.net/ http://sourceforge.net/ 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)

24. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

25. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

26. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

27. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

28. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

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

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

32. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

34. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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).

35. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

36. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

37. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

38. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

40. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

41. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

42. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

43. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

44. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

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

46. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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

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

49. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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

50. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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 533-536, Lisbon, Portugal, April 2004. 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.

51. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

52. May 2004http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue; yue@cl.uh.edupage 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.

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