Transcript SBT Enrollment (Civilian vs. Military)

The Best of Both Worlds:
Combining Open Educational
Resources with Credit by
Examination
November 7, 2012
Jeff Davidson and Mika Hoffman
Types of OER
OpenStudy
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Physics lecture
Lecture notes
Videos of classroom lectures
Lessons designed for OER
Courses
Discussion groups
Khan Academy
Open University
Who Creates OER?
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Professors from accredited colleges create the vast majority
of OER for higher education
 MIT Open Courseware
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Over 2000+ resources shared
 Washington State open course library
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42 complete full length courses
 Rice University Connexions
 Houses 20,000+ learning modules
The Saylor Foundation
Saylor video
Sample Uses for OER
 Material for courses (either blueprint structure or
individual readings, lectures, exercises, etc.)
 Courses for students pursuing independent study
 Additional/remedial skill development
OER in Action
 Dr. Joanna Smithback - Terra State C.C. Ohio
 Dr. Concepcion Saenz-Cambra – NYU
 Dr. Jason Gainous – Louisville University
 Dr. Leslie Wallace – U. of Pittsburgh
 Dr. Amy Thompson - Hopkinsville C.C.
 Dr. Benjamin Schwantes – Widener University
Is OER Sustainable?
 Private foundations such as Gates, Hewlett, Lumina
and Saylor are investing significant dollars in OER
 Governments are starting to invest in OER as well
 Imagine if every U.S. Public college built just one
open course - 4,400+ courses
 Low-cost assessments could recoup costs and pay
instructor fees
What is OER’s value?
 Learning
 Certificates
But…
 OER by itself does not typically
award formal educational credit
Why not?
Academic credit
 What is credit?
 Assurance that someone knows
something
 The something must be appropriate for
the particular academic program
 To provide that assurance, both the
someone and the something must be
verified
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OER and assessment
“What you know is more important than
where or how you learned it.”
Credit should be based on knowledge, not
attendance
Focus here is on decoupled assessment
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Validity
 Interpretation and use of results/credit is
supported by (good) arguments
 Part of making the argument is identifying
threats to validity and countering the threats
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Aspects of validity for OER
assessments
 Identity verification
 Assessment quality
 Appropriateness of knowledge tested
for a particular degree program
 Scalability
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Identity verification
Ryan Ruppe
Jeffery Turner
Steve Winton
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Threats to validity--courses
 Did the person actually go through the
course?
 Did the person do his/her own work?
 Is the person who took the course the
same person who is presenting the
credential?
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Threats to validity--assessments
 Is the person taking the assessment the
same person who is claiming the
knowledge?
 Is the person claiming the knowledge the
same person who is presenting the
credential?
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Assessment quality
A good assessment
 Measures knowledge of the subject
 Does not measure irrelevant characteristics
 Gives a person the same score regardless of
which form is taken
 Gives people of the same ability the same
score
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Threats to assessment quality
 Assessments may not measure quite the
same content as the OER addressed
 Not all things in the world labeled “Sociology”
cover the same topics!
 Assessments may not cover material in
enough depth
 A 10-question quiz is unlikely to cover the
content of OER covering the equivalent of a
college semester
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Threats to assessment quality
 The assessment might not be scored
consistently enough
 Different instructors have different standards
 Assessments might measure irrelevant
characteristics
 Unnecessarily complicated questions
 Questions with “giveaway” answers
 Trick questions
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Appropriateness of content
 Match of assessment to OER
 How close are the assessment specifications
to the learning objectives of the OER
material?
 Match of assessment to credit-granting
body
 How close are the assessment
specifications/learning objectives to what is
taught at the institution where credit is
sought?
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Scalability - Generalizability
Less
generalizable
More
generalizable
 Course final exams and
homework
 Third-party assessments
designed for a specific course
 Competency/proficiency
assessments
Scalability – Large groups
Less scalable
 Individual assessments
 Portfolios
 Research papers
 Oral examinations
 Human-scored group assessments
 Short answer questions
 Essay questions
 Machine-scored assessments
 Multiple-choice exams
 Machine-scored constructed response
exams
More scalable
Efficient assessment
 Machine-scored competency/proficiency
exams can handle large numbers of
examinees and be used for multiple OER
sources
 Machine-scored exams need not measure
simply mindless regurgitation of facts
 For some types of OER, more specific
assessments may be needed
 Portfolios for highly specialized content
Excelsior College Exam-Based Degree
Paths
 Supported Independent Study model is based on Open
Courseware options reviewed and recommended for all
exams
 Initial degree templates for BS and BA in Liberal Studies
and AS and BS in General Business
Sample ASB Degree Template
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(ETC ASB example)
Transportability
 Even with a valid assessment, the credit
decision is up to the institution where the
student wants credit
 Not many mechanisms are in place to
help!
 Many institutions not interested in mobility
Infrastructure Needs
 Common definitions of assessment-based
learning among the Regional Accreditors
 Access to Federal Financial Aid
 National Database of existing credential
and training assessments
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A model for low-cost
education
OER University
 Daysha Geleta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaXTiQaP
L3c&feature=youtu.be
Chelsea Mansfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srainl1c_v
U&feature=youtu.be
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