The Impact of Open Source: Open Course Websites

The Impact of Open Source: Open Course Websites

While reviewing my options for evaluating open course offerings this week, I was immediately drawn to Yale University’s website because of the appealing layout and design of the website.  It was very easy to explore and I appreciated the visuals of the professors associated with the course offerings; this gave a face to the course which I found very inviting.  I chose to review a course offered by Yale University called, AMST 246: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner (http://oyc.yale.edu/american-studies/amst-246).  

The course is taught by professor Wai Chee Dimock and it offers an overview of the major works and analytical connections of the authors Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner.  I really liked how upfront and clear the initial introduction/summary view of the course was.  Right when I clicked on it, it showed a picture of the professor that seemed very personable and a bio-summary about her.  There was also a brief summary of the course titled, “About the course,” as well as direct links to the syllabus, sessions, survey, course materials, and video and audio elements.  I appreciated that all of this information was easy to find so that I knew right away how to evaluate if this was a course I would be interested in taking, “Adults are more self-directed and have specific reasons for taking the course,” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 136).   

The course appears to be carefully pre-planned and designed for distance learning.  The syllabus is very straightforward and indicates exactly which texts will be read and what all of the assignments in the course are; it even describes the “short paper” and the “term paper” that are required.  The syllabus also details the weight of each assignment in the grading scale which is very helpful to the learners.  According to our course text, it is of great importance to inform learners of exactly what is expected of them from the start of the course and to let them know how they will be graded on all activities and assignments (Simonson et al., 2012).  This course follows the guidelines indicated in our course text for online instruction by listing out the expectations, the assignments, and the evaluations that the learners will experience during the course.  The course appears to enhance student learning through course activities to a fair extent through section participation, but I believe that more activities could improve the distance learner’s experience in the course.  I believe the course could be improved by adding more activities to increase learner to learner connections and build a sense of community within the course.  I do think that it’s amazing that many universities are offering open courses such as this one; it’s a great opportunity for education to advance and become more available to learners.

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Yale University (2012).  Open Yale courses.  Retrieved from: http://oyc.yale.edu/american-studies/amst-246