How do academics get their ideas out into the world?
When Professor Richard Baraniuk was faced with this question he chose to turn away from the traditional educational publishing path many have traveled, and blazed his own trail. The tedious process that would ultimately result in an expensive textbook with limited exposure discouraged him. He wanted to reach the world through a connected, up-to-date community of open education. Through his project, Connexions, he is changing the way authors, educators, and learners share resources, and is transforming the world of textbooks.
World Wide Community
When explaining the goal of Connexions, he juxtaposes the world of music to the world of textbooks and asks “What is it about the music world that creates such a vibrant, interactive, innovative worldwide community of musicians?” The answer is something Professor Baraniuk sees as fundamental to Connexions: “Anyone is free to create their own music”. This provides a sense of community that everyone can relate to and participate in. He believes the freedom to “create, rip, mix and burn” is what makes the music industry so dynamic, and that these abilities should be applied to the field of education. He is liberating the education world by breaking textbooks down into modules, and making the information open source. Modules are similar to lego blocks in the sense that each module, or block, maintains its composition whether independent or part of a whole. As a whole the blocks form an open source repository, and individually the modules can be reorganized and revised to suit needs of the users. This is made possible through a Creative Commons open license, which gives users freedom to utilize author’s information so long as they credit the source. As a result of its online nature, Connexions “improve[s] the slow glacial process of developing ideas” and creates textbooks that are free to use, create, rip, mix and burn.
Create
The “create” aspect of the project is based on the principle that everyone has ideas to share, and anyone can become an author. Many individuals have participated and felt the impact of their contribution. For example, Catherine Schmit-Jones used Connexions as an innovative way to teach music. Rather than 25 students she might teach in a year face-to-face, her music material has now reached 7.2 million users world-wide and is part of the official school curriculum in Mongolia. When schools are faced with budget cuts music departments are often early targets, leaving teachers responsible for purchasing their own materials. Catherine’s contribution has been a free resource for many teachers and students around the world.
Rip
This aspect of Connexions removes barriers in education by encouraging individuals to customize their own course content. A group of students at UT El Paso have translated some superbooks (online books compiled through Connexions) into Spanish, opening up the content to many Spanish-speaking students and teachers. Superbooks have also been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Vietnamese.
Mix
“Mixing” allows an individual to customize courses by re-assembling modules to fit their own context. Mixing material has made it more efficient for instructors to assemble course content. Rather than starting from scratch they are able to utilize information that is already available and mix it to fit the framework of their course. Connexions has joined forces with Teachers without Borders, enabling them use the learning modules to create course content appropriate for diverse countries around the world.
Burn
This aspect of Connexions brings the project full circle: taking the individual modules and re-building a textbook. The modern textbooks offered through Connexions are fundamentally different than books offered by publishing companies through their price and ability to customize textbook content.
It is not unusual to see a 300 page, hardbound textbook sold for $120. The high cost of textbooks is nearing that of the tuition of some schools, making education unaffordable for many students. Connexions in combination with enhanced “Print-On-Demand” technology can make that $120 textbook affordable at $20. This approach to publication also makes the cost of the textbooks independent of the number produced, making it possible and affordable to print small-run and even customized books. As it stands, most authors receive very little compensation for their work through publishing companies, but through Connexions they have the opportunity to promote their name and ideas into an academic community while retaining ownership of their material. Currently Connexions prints in 12 different countries, and encourages other print companies around the world to get involved.
Creative Commons
The Open Education Movement can be seen in Wikipedia, Public Library of Science (PLOS), MIT OpenCourseWare and many other efforts (see cnx.org for further links). The music industry is also becoming increasingly open, most dramatically exemplified by Radiohead’s experiment in which the band chose to release their “In Rainbows” album online independent of a record label and without a set cost. Professor Richard Baraniuk and others in the open education movement are seeking to transform learning in the same ways that Radiohead and others are revolutionizing the music industry. Although the open education revolution still faces challenges with international property laws and resistance to new approaches, Connexions is taking a bold step into the future. Thanks to the alternative IP scheme available under Creative Commons, and many other community efforts, Connexions currently boasts more than 300 textbooks, course collections, over 5000 modules and over 700,000 users, many of who are from the developing world. Professor Baraniuk’s enthusiasm for the project is clear and the future of Connexions and open education is sure to be a bright one.
“The exciting thing is that everybody has knowledge that they can share. Everybody has something that they want to learn about. By getting the people who want to share and the people who want to learn together I think we can truly make the world a better place”.
How to Get Involved
Connexions
The Connexions Website includes more in-depth information about the organization and shows how you can participate as a teacher, student and learner!
The Cape Town Open Education Declaration
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/
If you are interested in joining the Open Education Movement, this site provides more information about and gives you an opportunity to sign the declaration and join the movement.
Creative Commons
This site provides more information about “some rights reserved” licensing and includes projects and updates