Kathi Fletcher Interview Notes - August 26, 2009

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Conducted with Erhardt Graeff via telephone on August 26, 2009, concerning adoption policies and learning assessments of educational resources (textbooks) in Texas and elsewhere.

Interviewee

Notes

Two Methods to track Adoption currently (Collaborative Statistics textbook model)

  • CCCOER community can track via Open Textbook Project
  • Adopters can directly contact Authors
    • Connexions platform has 'E-mail the author' link on each page
    • BUT, authors can remove this link

Siyavula South African K-12 EM Project on Connexions

  • Uses lenses for all of its content
  • Includes discussion forums for each module to offer place for notes on adoption and feedback
  • KEY PROBLEM: Need something more Concrete to Track Usage/Adoption
    • Need a more integrated tracker into CNX systems
    • Adoption notes/pages might still be skipped
    • Partly just a place for feedback and support (how are people using this / remixing this)

Toward Learning Assessments for EM

  • How do we “close the loop” ?
    • MAYBE: “Use this module and then take this quiz”
    • NEXT STEP (?): system suggest additional content based on assessment or survey response
  • K-12: assessment is not built in / adoption is simply based on standards (if it fits the mold then it is recommended)
    • We don't know how much a printed textbook is used in a classroom because there are no automatic statistics for analytics of 'page views', 'time using the medium', etc.
    • Online Materials can track usage for assessment

NIH Grant to Bridge Gap in Review Process and Content Platform (not awarded)

  • Focus: adoption and community-building for Collaborative Statistics textbook
  • Use existing Community of Practice reviewing materials through MERLOT
    • MERLOT reviews are not connected to the materials themselves
    • Put those reviews right on the material's page on the Connexions platform
    • THEN, a lens could show / direct users to all content reviewed on MERLOT
  • PROBLEM WITH GRANT
    • Open content does have as much support material: question banks, supplementary activities, etc.
    • A single author on Connexions can't produce this additional content/material
    • Reviewers didn't thought it foolhardy to think that contributors would rate and review content, and then ALSO produce supplementary content

Missing Technical Pieces for OER

  • There is no great software that works in every system that would allow a user to ask a content author questions and then add metadata to those questions
  • Tech delivery problem in teachers wanting answer-keys that only they have access to
    • Could you have questions banks with closed answer keys?
    • Then, do you sell access? OER Issue.

Connexions Statistics

  • Site usage generally follows North American educational calendar
  • Connexions uses statistics for performance and utilization status
  • Tracking Content Groups
    • Collaborative Statistics textbook data
      • Open Textbook Project uses Google Analytics tracking
      • See usage over time as it gets more adoption
        • Graph of Fall to Spring semester 2008-09 shows usage increase / reflects greater adoption
        • Not represented in aggregate statistics for whole site
    • National Instruments use their lenses to chart usage of their tools
      • They prioritize time to develop the more popular ones
      • SIDE NOTE: They also support a few authors doing relevant work on Connexions

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