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Full-Text Articles in Education

A Preliminary Examination Of The Cost Savings And Learning Impacts Of Using Open Textbooks In Middle And High School Science Classes, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley, Shelley Ellington, Tiffany Hall Jun 2012

A Preliminary Examination Of The Cost Savings And Learning Impacts Of Using Open Textbooks In Middle And High School Science Classes, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley, Shelley Ellington, Tiffany Hall

Faculty Publications

Proponents of open educational resources claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the classroom. Over a period of two years, we worked with 20 middle and high school science teachers (collectively teaching approximately 3,900 students) who adopted open textbooks to understand the process and determine the overall cost of such an adoption. The teachers deployed open textbooks in multiple ways. Some of these methods cost more than traditional textbooks; however, we did identify and implement a successful model of open textbook adoption that reduces costs by over 50% compared to the cost of …


Examining The Reuse Of Open Textbooks, John Hilton Iii, David A. Wiley, Neil Lutz Apr 2012

Examining The Reuse Of Open Textbooks, John Hilton Iii, David A. Wiley, Neil Lutz

Faculty Publications

An important element of open educational resources (OER) is the permission to use the materials in new ways, including revising and remixing them. Prior research has shown that the revision and remix rates for OER are relatively low. In this study we examined the extent to which the openly licensed Flat World Knowledge textbooks were being revised and remixed. We found that the levels of revision and remix were similar to those of other OER collections. We discuss the possible significance and implication of these findings.


The Four R’S Of Openness And Alms Analysis: Frameworks For Open Educational Resources, John L. Hilton Iii, Aaron Johnson, Jared Stein, David Wiley Jan 2010

The Four R’S Of Openness And Alms Analysis: Frameworks For Open Educational Resources, John L. Hilton Iii, Aaron Johnson, Jared Stein, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

A significant movement in education concerns the use of open educational resources. By "open" it is generally meant that the resource is available at no cost to others for adaptation and reuse in different contexts. However "open" is not a simple dichotomy; rather, there is a continuum of openness. We discuss four separate aspects of reuse and demonstrate how these describe different levels of openness. We discuss how the licensing and technical aspects of open educational resources affect the relative openness of an OER. Implications for those creating open educational resources are discussed.


Impediments To Learning Object Reuse And Openness As A Potential Solution, David Wiley Sep 2009

Impediments To Learning Object Reuse And Openness As A Potential Solution, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

This paper has argued that the simple act of adding an open license providing 4Rs usage rights to learning object users will significantly expand our understanding of “reuse;” that the application of open licenses will greatly increase the reach of learning objects (making them available to individuals and organizations with financial or other resource challenges), and that open licenses are easy to apply to learning objects. Because of the challenges inherent with fully copyrighted learning objects, “open learning objects” seem to be the best path forward for this very promising educational technology.


Overcoming The Limitations Of Learning Objects, David Wiley, Matthew Barclay, Deonne Dawson, Brent Lambert, Laurie Nelson, David Wade, Sandie Waters Oct 2004

Overcoming The Limitations Of Learning Objects, David Wiley, Matthew Barclay, Deonne Dawson, Brent Lambert, Laurie Nelson, David Wade, Sandie Waters

Faculty Publications

Note: this is not the final version of the article. There are a number of issues facing those who wish to employ learning objects in the facilitation of learning. There are a number of issues facing those who wish to employ learning objects to facilitate learning. These issues are not, however, inherent in the component-based paradigm. The first section of this paper describes some of the most difficult issues to be resolved. In the second section, we present a model of the use of learning objects that is grounded in a object-based paradigm. In the third section, we describe the …