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Open Courses Update

NANSLO aims to offer critical gatekeeper courses in biology, physics, and chemistry, incorporating both theory and labs, using the remote laboratory technology. The project also focuses on developing adaptable open courses ready for use by anyone and localized versions specific to BC and CCCS needs.

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Open Courses Update

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  1. Open CoursesUpdate Remotely Accessible Laboratory Experiments Extending First-year STEM Opportunities

  2. What has NANSLO set out to do? Offer critical gatekeeper courses: first semester courses for biology, physics and chemistry, incorporating both core theory and labs Replicate at CCCS the remote laboratory (RWSL) currently in operation at North Island College in British Columbia. Integrate RWSL technology with other distance delivery strategies to increase access to these lab science courses for underserved learner audiences.

  3. Open course development: Outcome 3 Appendix A, Outcome 3: Three Open Core Courses - Biology, Physics, Chemistry: three existing BC open courses are improved by discipline panels generating three adaptable open courses ready for use by anyone as well as localized versions specific to BC and CCCS needs. Lab kits are modified to complement RWSL course labs and revised learning outcomes. Starting point: BC open courses currently exist.

  4. Our role in the project’s Logic Model

  5. What do we mean by “Open”? • The courses we develop for NANSLO will be: • Built on/adapted from open course curriculum developed through BCcampus • “produce adaptable open versions of the courses ready for use by anyone” (Proposal, p. 2) • Developed through an open working process • Openly licensed (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0) • Supplemented by open resources (e.g. images, diagrams, software, texts) wherever possible • Supported by openly licensed project documents (e.g. adoption manual, training manual)

  6. Starting points • Open course curriculum developed through BCcampus: • Physics • Biology • Chemistry • Collection of 8-10 laboratory activities per course • A bonus is that we have been given permission to utilize all non-proprietary resources developed by CCConline • Courses are currently structured around proprietary textbooks but the development of accompanying Open textbooks is a natural next step.

  7. Curriculum design process/workplan Assignment of Course Designer Establishment of Discipline Panels Comprehensive review of existing curriculum resources by Discipline Panels Redesign of existing curriculum into open core courses: both generic and localized Selection of resources, texts, support materials, lab materials, and identification of gaps by Course Designer Evaluation, revision of courses Publication and open licensing of 3 core courses.

  8. Discipline Panel initial work: • Discipline Panel membership confirmed late last spring • Discipline Panel members provided with comprehensive comparison of BCcampus & CCConline course curriculum • Panel members compared course overview, learning outcomes and/or topics, textbook, hours of study, etc. with the goal of establishing rough equivalency between BCcampus & CCConline courses • Conference call conducted with each Discipline Panel on June 30th. During the call, panel members: • Established approx. equivalency between BCcampus & CCConline courses • Discussed, generally, goals of the first year of the field of study • Determined which aspects should be included in the first semester.

  9. Discipline Panel: summer work • Listservs & wikis set up to facilitate discussion & provide an easy-to-edit space to compare documents • Physics & Biology (esp. Physics) were most active Discipline Panels over the summer • Panel members discussed: • ‘core’ vs. optional/regional units /topics • lab activities which best complement this collection • How lab activities might best be revised • Other topics of interest

  10. Next steps by Discipline Panels • Physics: • Come to consensus about which activities & which delivery formats best support the lab portion of the course • Continue review, suggest revision of labs • Biology • Perhaps more discussion about core vs. optional units/labs • Continue review, suggest revision of labs • Add critical thinking skills for each lab • Chemistry • Begin moving the review process forward Some of this work may be completed during this workshop.

  11. Open working process • month-by-month (https://nanslo.pbworks.com/w/page/41915451/Curriculum-Design-Workbench) ; and • day-by-day or week-by-week (https://nanslo.pbworks.com/w/page/45000032/September%202011) You can follow the course design work on the wiki in our open ‘Curriculum Design Workbench’ Progress is updated:

  12. Next steps in curriculum design Continue to promote Discipline panel discussion Collate panel feedback & recommendations for each of the 3 courses Using already available resources, select content, texts, support materials, & lab materials to support curriculum as recommended by panels Identify gaps between what already exists & what panel members have recommended Review, feedback, evaluation, revision of courses Publication and open licensing of 3 core courses.

  13. What opportunities lie ahead? How can we best promote the open courses? How can we leverage the open-ness of the courses we produce; e.g. How can we engage other partners who will use and improve these courses over time? How can we sustain the growing expertise of our discipline panels beyond this initial project? Questions?

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