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Peer To Peer University
Neeru · Oakland, Cambridge, Fremont (United States) · 31/7/2007 22:21
Our goal is to create a free and open university where all course materials are accessible, courses are scheduled and have deadlines, and we develop some alternate form of a "hacked" accreditation.
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Category: Education
Project end date: 26/7/2020 (4304 days to go)
Creation date: 31/7/2007 22:21
Development stage: deployment
city: Dubrovnik
country: Croatia
Other countries: International
Main Language: English
Number of people involved: 5
Though there are many OER resources online, there are a number of barriers that limit how much self-learners can use them. Much of it may be just the sheer mass of content, and the overwhelming nature of being confronted with so many choices of OER resources. It would seem like a good problem to have, but studies have actually found that when confronted with too many choices, people actually end up feeling really stressed out. Part of what academic institutions do is help to navigate this mess. Institutions provide the choice of taking thousands of courses, yet, they organize them into majors and requirements to make the decision process much easier and goal oriented. It also may just feel that learning things alone is difficult. Without the support of a teacher, and classmates, to both guide and motivate, it may be that learning is too much of an uphill battle to engage in. Who are you to ask questions should any arise, or commiserate over difficult material with? It also may also seem like it isn’t urgent if there are no deadlines. Maybe it’s more important to clean the kitchen, or watch TV than complete a course in MIT’s OCW – who’s noticing anyway? And beyond learning for the sake of learning, how will it enhance my prospects on the job market? Without a degree, how can I signal to employers that I’m competent? Furthermore, many OER resources don't allow access to the readings - simply a syllabus, and sometimes recorded lectures. How is one to learn if you can't pay hefty fees for the textbooks? Creating alternative methods to carry out these functions could be a huge boon to students who don’t have access to an academic institution, but do have access to an Internet connection. OER could expand to include community features that meet all of these needs, and thus, increase the uptake of OER resources.
To help illustrate some possible strategies, let’s engage imagine there was a vibrant web community of learners at something called Peer-To-Peer University (www.p2pu.edu). P2PU would not be a real university, but rather, a group of self-learners and tutors who work together to emulate some of the functions an academic institution would carry out, in a peer-to-peer fashion. P2PU would define “degrees” by assembling OER materials from different repositories that, together, would suffice as a degree in that subject. For example, P2PU might specify 15 physics course across the various OER project sites that one would have to complete in order to get a P2PU physics degree. Students might take Physics 101 from MIT OCW, and Physics 202 from Tufts OCW. P2PU would make sure all learning resources would be available online. Providing degree tracks helps self-learners navigate the vast terrain of OER resources in a goal-oriented way. This may remove some of the inertia from being faced with too many choices, or not being able to access readings.
Beyond specifying degrees, P2PU would then organize scheduled “courses” where groups of learners would come together and learn the material for a course. For example, Physics 101 would be held at P2PU starting on January 30th 2008, through May 15th 2008. Self-learners would then sign up for the course to take alongside a cohort of other self-learners throughout the world. The group will start on a certain date, end on a certain date, and have regular scheduled meetings on IM, Skype, and discussion threads to have a “class discussion” to go over the material followed on a syllabus. Providing a structured time, and process to take a course will help learners commit, rather than just putting it off until tomorrow. Providing a group to take a course with provides community, support, and accountability for taking the course. P2PU will also experiment with a variety of methods in instruction. In some cases video resources, or highly interactive web-learning tools may be available to self-learners that they could use in a group setting. In the absence of these materials being available, members of the group take turns presenting class lectures to each other. One group member would study the material for that “class” in depth, present the materials to the group members, and discuss. Or, a member can find supplementary applications on the web that would help illustrate the concept. When possible, an educator or well-versed students could sign up to be “class tutors,” to guide the group. The class tutor would lead the class in learning the materials, facilitating discussions, answering questions, and providing feedback. You could imagine there might be many experts in physics who would consider it an act of goodwill, or a volunteer effort to guide a class on P2PU. As a reward, they will have special “tutor” profile pages showing the classes they have taught. Tutors can collect ratings, so that they become popular and people want to take courses led by them. It may be that for very good tutors, there could be some kind of financial reward built into the system. Participants can also have profile pages, which detail their interests, occupations, and also show which courses they have completed. The group can also decide how to test the material either through a multiple choice open book written exam, or an oral exam within the group. At the end, if they wished, they could compete against each other and have their scores compiled on a public ranking list. Competition is often a good learning motivator. And though these efforts may not replace the value of accreditation, it could serve some purpose in giving learners some measure of social credit for finishing their course, that is somewhere between accreditation, and nothing. Posting the names of students and the OER courses somewhere on the site will provide an additional incentive for having students complete classes at P2PU. It may be that one day an employer would recognize a degree from P2PU. Inherent in the system, P2PU students would be self-starters, group learners, and resourceful. A degree from P2PU would be a “Net Degree” and soon begin to take on its own meaning of accreditation. Though there many kinks to work out in P2PU, such as incentives, group motivation, and testing, the potential seems clear – the Internet can be used to connect students with each other in an organized fashion to leverage OER resources. P2PU creates community for learners, deadlines, and incentives to learn OER materials. In the absence of these incentives, and access to an academic institution, P2PU leverages OER and the Internet to make learning interactive, free, and worthwhile.
We are currently meeting on the email list to organize the creation of P2PU. Join us!
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