I usually am a keen student and get to my homework Saturday afternoon, but that did not happen this past weekend because I felt completely overwhelmed with all of the information to explore at the CEET Open Conference. I thought the best place to start my exploration would be to watch “Open Access Explained” by Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen. The information in this video was eye opening for me. When I was working on my B.A. and B.Ed. and writing many research papers that required the use of scholarly articles (especially for Physical Education assignments) I had no idea that these scholarly articles had a price attached to them. I am glad I was not the one footing the bill. I do however, recall coming up against that “brick wall” of “access denied”. Back then I had no idea why I could not access a particular article, and probably did not have time to find out because I had to focus on getting my work complete! I am as shocked as Nick and Jonathan at the amount of knowledge that is not being shared freely so that others can then expand on it and we can evolve and learn new information. After viewing the above-mentioned video I then viewed the GlobalBC video on “BCs Open Textbook Initiative”. I realized I had seen this video before when it first aired on GlobalBC. I was probably making dinner and only half paying attention the first time I saw this clip so I was interested in viewing it again. At first I was excited about free textbooks! And then when I made the connection to Open Access I realized there was a more meaningful reason behind the “Open Textbook Initiative”. This will help open the doors to further research, more knowledge taught and gained in Universities and the education system can evolve. It is inspiring to live in a Province that is paving the way of Opening Learning and I hope I will play at least a small roll in the advancement in this new way of teaching and learning. Even though I was overwhelmed, and honestly I still am, with all of the information CEET Open had to offer I am so glad that I was introduced to this very informative conference. I will for sure be attending future CEET conferences! |
AuthorTracy is a teacher in School District 79 (Cowichan Valley) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She graduated from Vancouver Island University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education and English as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Education. She is currently completing an Online Learning and Teaching Diploma and a Masters in Leadership. Archives
November 2014
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Learning Blog
Here you will find a blog of my learning that is happening in the OLTD program at VIU.
Photo used under Creative Commons from jillyspoon