Application Blog- The Impact of Open Source

Application: Blog—The Impact of Open Source

The Harvard Open Course is an open site that offers free videos that have been made available by the Harvard Extension Schools Open Learning Initiative. The courses are all noncredit and feature Harvard Faculty. All of the courses are open to the public and you do not have to register to view the lectured videos. After viewing the design of the site it has not been set up as a distance learning environment.  The design of the site is more for adults who may be interested in the attending Harvard University. So it gives someone insight into what type of courses that are offered at Harvard, it allows someone to become familiar with the university  professors, the lectured videos also gives someone an idea of how the classes would be ran, and for each class there is a list of lectured videos from the semester. There are four strategies for organizing instruction linear-programmed instruction, branched-programmed instruction, hyper-programmed and student-programmed instruction (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2013) .This site allows in individual to learn about a particular subject for free but still gain the knowledge from the instructor. Even though the site is not designed for an online course you are able to  still have the  distance learner experience.

In any distance learning environment, the technology becomes the element of most concern. The instructor must become familiar with the hardware so the technology can be used effectively. In a distance learning environment resources are available to students are very important (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2013). In the Harvard Open Course site the learning environment is an open site where the learner is independent and is in control of what lectured videos he or she would like to participate in. Just as stated by Charles Wedemeyer the essence of distance education was the independence of the student (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2013). Wedemeyer also stated that offer students and adult’s wider choices in courses, formats, and methodologies (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2013). In the learning environment the participants have to be familiar with the technology tools in order to fully participate on the course the site.

The course designer did not implement any assignments, test, quizzes, and discussion questions. The learner is able to go through each lectured video and flow along with instructor as if they were classroom. The instructor provides the learner with step by step instructions on how to solve problems. For example The Harvard Open Course offers Algebra and each instructor builds on the previous lesson so the learner is able to have a positive learning experience. Knowing how convenient it is for students to access the resources or to rearrange their own personal and work schedules is important when planning instructions (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2013). Even though this site is not built as a fully online course it still offers the learner the convenience of going on the site when there schedule allows them to.

Overall The Harvard Open Courses is open to the public for those learners who are interested in attending Harvard University or becoming a distance learner. It also applies to learners who are interested in learning a new subject or looking for new ways to learn. This open course offers many opportunity without begin a part of an online course. It gives the learner many options to different courses and receives knowledge from the top Harvard professors.

Reference

Harvard Open Courses: Open Learning Initiative
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative

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