# OpenEd: Why I was distracted I


I know that I am egregiously late with this assignment, and I apologize
for that. In addition to some major events in my personal life, two
important things have happened that are quite related to this course.
The first is that I finally submitted my application for an MA in
[theory and policy studies](http://oise.utoronto.ca/depts/tps) at
[Ontario Institute of Studies in Education](http://oise.utoronto.ca),
part of [University of Toronto](http://utoronto.ca), with a
specialization in [higher
education](http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/tps/Programs/Higher%20Ed/index-higher-ed.html).
Here are some excerpts from my statement of intent, which gives an idea
of what I’d like to study, partly inspired by this class.

![](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/143186839_5c9fad13cd.jpg)

*Universities are [...] currently undergoing rapid changes both
reflected through the pressure of dramatically higher enrollments,
marketization and pressures to remain current and therefore serve the
knowledge economy. [...] Nowhere is this more true than in the emerging
massification of higher education in developing countries, for example
China and India. Technologies such as electronic distribution of
academic scholarship, distance education and electronically mediated
learning hold great promises in making education more effective,
widening access to higher education, and redefining the traditional
concept of buildings, institutions and processes that comprise a
“university”. However, intellectual property regulations not only
severely limit access to most institutions and individuals, but also
limit how these materials can be used, reused and adapted into other
cultural and linguistic contexts. I believe that the various open
movements, beginning with open source, which inspired the campaign for
open access to scholarly publications, and the open educational
resources movement, have the potential to significantly broaden access,
and qualitatively change the way students interact and learn, as well as
the way in which knowledge is created and disseminated.*

*The Open Educational Resources movement gained publicity through MIT’s
Open Courseware Project, [...]. It is a trend that is rapidly expanding
and gaining significance, and which I have began to study and reflect on
through my distance class on Open Educational Resources with professor
David Wiley from Utah State University. I am interested in examining to
what extent, and how, Open Educational Resources might improve access
and quality of higher education in developing countries, facilitate the
production and exchange of educational resources in and between
developing countries, and enable higher education in local and regional
languages. I have been very much inspired by the words of University of
Oslo’s Birgit Brock-Utne, who stated that universal primary education
must be pursued in concert with strengthening pre and in-service teacher
education, research on schooling in indigenous languages, and the
development of locally relevant curricula and textbooks. In all this,
strong and effective universities in developing countries play a crucial
role.\
*

*Having spent a year teaching in a Chinese university, and speaking
Chinese, I have developed a particular interest in this region. [...]
China is one of the developing countries that have most aggressively
adapted Open Educational Resources, both by translating MIT courses, and
by several of the key universities producing and distributing their own
lecture material through China Open Resources for Education (CORE). MIT
promotional material states that this has “significantly changed the
face of Chinese higher education”, yet research is underdeveloped in
regards to how foreign educational resources are adapted and implemented
in Chinese universities and classrooms, and what the educational and
non-educational outcomes are.*

*Thus I am applying to do a Master of Arts [...]. My thesis research
will be based on field work conducted at one or more of the key
universities in China, which are currently actively implementing
internationally produced Open Educational Resources, and are themselves
producing and distributing Open Educational Resources based on their own
teaching and research. Through in-depth interviews of administrators and
professors, a study of policy documents and processes, an examination of
curricula and Open Educational Materials themselves, and observation of
lectures, I will explore the political and institutional processes that
enable or promote the usage and production of OERs, how OERs from abroad
are adapted to a different cultural context, if they are efficient in
raising the quality of instruction and teaching outcomes, and their
impact on educational and non-educational outcomes.*

![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/1789363865_154a175a57_m.jpg)I
have been struggling between choosing to focus more on the policy and
macro-part, or more on the teaching/pedagogics/instructional technology
part, both of which interest me a lot. OISE, which I really wanted to
attend, did not seem to have a strong faculty in teaching and learning
that focus on higher education, and they have a very strong faculty in
internationalization of higher education, higher education in China etc,
so I went this route. I was also wondering whether I would need lot’s of
psychology and what not to go the pedagogics (andragogics?) part…
However, I hope to be able to cover both somehow, or at least gradually
find what interests me the most. I should have know the answer by
mid-March. I also considered several other schools in the US, including
even instructional technology at Utah State University
:)
But I think for know, an MA at OISE would be perfect, since they have a
very broad faculty and staff in all the areas that I am interested, and
a great Center for International, Development, and Comparative Education
center that I will be affiliated with.

Although I was obviously interested in these areas before taking the
course, since I wouldn’t have taken it otherwise, I came across my
proposed research topics through the readings in the course, and I also
think it helped me think and formulate my thoughts more clearly. Thanks
a lot to David Wiley, and all the participants!

Stian\
 *(thanks to [CarbonNYC @
flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/) for the pictures)*