Towards a Culture of Openness in Education in Latin America
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The Tecnológico de Monterrey has actively engaged in the open educational resources (OER) movement, integrating digital materials into its courses and collaborating on various projects to enhance distance education. The institution has developed initiatives such as the 'Knowledge Hub' to provide access to a multilingual catalog of OER, alongside other collaborative efforts to create and share educational resources. Key recommendations have been made to promote digital literacy and a culture of open sharing to facilitate effective learning environments in a knowledge-based society.
![From the field
Towards a Culture of Openness in Education
in Latin America
Authors The Tecnológico de Monterrey has embraced the use of ICT for educational purposes,
including the development of innovative distance education models and the produc-
Maria Soledad Ramirez-
tion of digital educational materials for distance learners. In the past three years this
Montoya,
Principal of the Chair of institution has started to participate actively in the world movement of Open Educa-
the Group of Innovation in tional Resources (OER). Here we review some applications and innovations that have
Technology and education in recently come about in the institution, and comment on emerging challenges and rec-
Tecnológico de Monterrey ommendations.
(ITESM).
solramirez@itesm.mx
J. Vladimir Burgos-Aguilar,
Full time Liaison Officer of
1. Context of open educational practices in Latin America
Innovation and Educational The Tecnológico de Monterrey is a Mexican university that has worked since the year 2007,
Technology. Center for in several open educational projects towards innovative practices to improve academic
Innovation in Technology and
achievement, and based on experiences on the use and production of royalty free course’
Education (Innov@TE)
vburgos@itesm.mx materials, has identified some key critical factors to develop a model to effectively knowl-
edge transfer the adoption of OER. The Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit aca-
demic institution founded at the year of 1943, and composed of 33 campuses across Mexico
Tags offering high-school programs, undergraduate and graduate degrees, continuing education,
as well as social programs. Through technology-based distance programs, since 1989 the
open education practices, Tecnológico de Monterrey is a pioneer in distance education with more of 20 years of experi-
technology-enhanced ence through its Virtual University, reaching 29 countries at present time, and offers totally
learning, transference online undergraduate, postgraduate, continuing education, and social programs.
The Tecnológico de Monterrey as embraced the use of information and communication tech-
nologies for educational purposes, including the development of innovative distance educa-
tion models and the production of digital educational materials for distance learners. Based
on this context, in the past three years this educational institution has started to participate
actively in the world movement of Open Educational Resources (OER) with: [a] the adop-
tion of digital materials for its undergraduate and graduate programs and courses produced
from several open projects which belong to different higher education institutions, such as:
the Carnegie Mellon University (Open Learning Initiative, OLI), Yale University (Open Yale
Courses), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (OpenCourseWare, OCW); [b] sharing
its courses through the OpenCourseWare Consortium (http://ocw.itesm.mx/); [c] Tecnológi-
co de Monterrey has developed an initiative called “Knowledge Hub” (currently named “te-
moa”: www.temoa.info) that provides a public and multilingual catalog of Open Educational
Resources (Mortera & Burgos, 2010), aiming to support the educational community to find
those resources and materials that meet their needs for teaching and learning through a
specialized and collaborative search systems and social tools (Burgos, 2010).
ing
earn
eLearning Papers • ISSN: 1887-1542 • www.elearningpapers.eu
eL ers
23
u
ers.e
gpap
.elea
rnin n.º 23 • March 2011
Pap
www
1](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/from-field238-110313045738-phpapp02/85/Towards-a-Culture-of-Openness-in-Education-in-Latin-America-1-320.jpg)
Towards a Culture of Openness in Education in Latin America
- 1. From the field Towards a Culture of Openness in Education in Latin America Authors The Tecnológico de Monterrey has embraced the use of ICT for educational purposes, including the development of innovative distance education models and the produc- Maria Soledad Ramirez- tion of digital educational materials for distance learners. In the past three years this Montoya, Principal of the Chair of institution has started to participate actively in the world movement of Open Educa- the Group of Innovation in tional Resources (OER). Here we review some applications and innovations that have Technology and education in recently come about in the institution, and comment on emerging challenges and rec- Tecnológico de Monterrey ommendations. (ITESM). solramirez@itesm.mx J. Vladimir Burgos-Aguilar, Full time Liaison Officer of 1. Context of open educational practices in Latin America Innovation and Educational The Tecnológico de Monterrey is a Mexican university that has worked since the year 2007, Technology. Center for in several open educational projects towards innovative practices to improve academic Innovation in Technology and achievement, and based on experiences on the use and production of royalty free course’ Education (Innov@TE) vburgos@itesm.mx materials, has identified some key critical factors to develop a model to effectively knowl- edge transfer the adoption of OER. The Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit aca- demic institution founded at the year of 1943, and composed of 33 campuses across Mexico Tags offering high-school programs, undergraduate and graduate degrees, continuing education, as well as social programs. Through technology-based distance programs, since 1989 the open education practices, Tecnológico de Monterrey is a pioneer in distance education with more of 20 years of experi- technology-enhanced ence through its Virtual University, reaching 29 countries at present time, and offers totally learning, transference online undergraduate, postgraduate, continuing education, and social programs. The Tecnológico de Monterrey as embraced the use of information and communication tech- nologies for educational purposes, including the development of innovative distance educa- tion models and the production of digital educational materials for distance learners. Based on this context, in the past three years this educational institution has started to participate actively in the world movement of Open Educational Resources (OER) with: [a] the adop- tion of digital materials for its undergraduate and graduate programs and courses produced from several open projects which belong to different higher education institutions, such as: the Carnegie Mellon University (Open Learning Initiative, OLI), Yale University (Open Yale Courses), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (OpenCourseWare, OCW); [b] sharing its courses through the OpenCourseWare Consortium (http://ocw.itesm.mx/); [c] Tecnológi- co de Monterrey has developed an initiative called “Knowledge Hub” (currently named “te- moa”: www.temoa.info) that provides a public and multilingual catalog of Open Educational Resources (Mortera & Burgos, 2010), aiming to support the educational community to find those resources and materials that meet their needs for teaching and learning through a specialized and collaborative search systems and social tools (Burgos, 2010). ing earn eLearning Papers • ISSN: 1887-1542 • www.elearningpapers.eu eL ers 23 u ers.e gpap .elea rnin n.º 23 • March 2011 Pap www 1
- 2. From the field 2. Innovative forms of OER’s use specific needs through bounded communities in academia. In terms of effective application, entails de explicit definition of Some applications and innovations that have recently come new knowledge through the process of tailoring from its source about in the institution are: to a specific application of need such that consequent actions 1. The application of OERs, integrated with e-learning in grad- are effective and significative (Bennet and Bennet, 2007). uate courses through the use of OERs like support for re- The OER may provide a significative learning environment in sources, and anthologies with OERs (Ramírez, 2010a). They a modern technological and digital world, fostering innovative have also integrated with traditional education systems scenarios enriched with technology to allow instructors to of- through the application of OERs in the context of the work fer new ways of teaching and reflect on their teaching practice, of students (Burgos & Ramírez, 2010). empowering the student in the development of essential skills 2. The creation of OERs with six other Mexican institutions, in the use of such technology to stimulate the learning process. generating educational open resources for the development of educational researchers (Ramírez, 2010b). The recommendations that could be offered to decision mak- ers to foster new learning environments to prepare educators 3. The creation of OERs by the graduate students that designed in a knowledge-based society are: (1) to promote a new culture educational cases for basic education (K-12), high school and educational practice to acquire the skills required to exploit and higher education, as well as open objectives for the for- fully the use of OER, for example, digital literacy and informa- mation of teachers in a knowledge based society (Ramírez & tion literacy; (2) to promote a community of open sharing of Valenzuela, 2010). educational best practices, with the main objective to facilitate 4. The creation of an open textbook (Ramírez & Burgos, 2010), the effective adoption of OER and to generate significant learn- resulting from 30 case studies/investigations where 120 ing experiences in the use of OER in teaching strategies. graduate students implemented OERs in their learning envi- rons and documented the impact on their learning. 5. The institution has developed a content repository of open educational resources (OER) and mobile learning resources References on educational research which is available through a web- site (http://catedra.ruv.itesm.mx/), where these resources Bennet, A. & Bennet, D. (2007). Knowledge Mobilization in the are open, free and licensed for use, reuse and distribution; Social Sciences and Humanities: Moving from Research to Action, MQI Press (Knowledge Series) 6. The institution has been training its own faculty and under- graduate and graduate students, and also it has been train- Burgos, J. V (2010). Diseminación digital de Recursos Educativos . ing faculty from other educational institutions (form basic Abiertos y potencial aprovechamiento. XI Encuentro Internacional education “K-12” to University level); Virtual Educa, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. 7. Finally, it has conducted research on all these experiences Burgos, J. V & Ramírez, M. S. (2010). Open Educational Re- . in several aspects such as: use of technology, legal issues sources: Experiences of use in a Latin-American context. Open Ed about open educational materials, training for using and 2010 The Seventh Annual Open Education Conference, Barcelona. producing open educational resources and sharing best Available at http://hdl.handle.net/10609/5062 practices (http://www.ruv.itesm.mx/convenio/catedra/re- cursos/articulos.htm). Mortera, F. J. & Burgos, V (2010). Innovative Applications Using . New Technology: The Case of the Knowledge Hub Search Engine Conclusions and Open Educational Resources Building Communities of Prac- tice. Education and Research Technology (ERT) Forum (section 2, The The challenge we are living towards a new knowledge- Supporting research with new technology and emerging technolo- based society (KBS), where educational resources are fully ac- gies). California, EUA. cessible through different media formats at the Internet, is to spur the value of use of existing knowledge in the process of Ramírez, M.S. (2010a). Ed5049. Demandas educativas en la sharing, assimilation and application of focused knowledge to sociedad del conocimiento, temoa: Open Educational Resources ing earn eLearning Papers • ISSN: 1887-1542 • www.elearningpapers.eu eL ers 23 u ers.e gpap .elea rnin n.º 23 • March 2011 Pap www 2
- 3. From the field Portal, retrieved at January 6, 2011 from http://www.temoa.info/ es/node/42476 Ramírez, M. S. (2010b). Generando recursos educativos abiertos y móviles para la formación de investigadores educativos: una colaboración interinstitucional. XI Encuentro Internacional Virtual Educa (seminar of technological resources for education and re- search). Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. Ramírez, M. S. & Burgos, J. V (2010) (Coords.). Recursos . educativos abiertos en ambientes enriquecidos con tecnología: In- novación en la práctica educativa. México: ITESM. www.lulu.com Ramírez, M. S. & Valenzuela, J. R. (2010). Trans-formando a los profesores: desarrollo de competencias para una Sociedad Basada en Conocimiento mediante objetos de aprendizaje abiertos. XI Encuentro Internacional Virtual Educa (seminar of technological resources for education and research). Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. Edition and production Name of the publication: eLearning Papers Copyrights ISSN: 1887-1542 The texts published in this journal, unless otherwise indicated, are subject Publisher: elearningeuropa.info to a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivativeWorks Edited by: P.A.U. Education, S.L. 3.0 Unported licence. They may be copied, distributed and broadcast pro- Postal address: c/Muntaner 262, 3r, 08021 Barcelona (Spain) vided that the author and the e-journal that publishes them, eLearning Phone: +34 933 670 400 Papers, are cited. Commercial use and derivative works are not permitted. Email: editorial@elearningeuropa.info The full licence can be consulted on http://creativecommons.org/licens- Internet: www.elearningpapers.eu es/by-nc-nd/3.0/ ing earn eLearning Papers • ISSN: 1887-1542 • www.elearningpapers.eu eL ers 23 u ers.e gpap .elea rnin n.º 23 • March 2011 Pap www 3