Using the Open Source Collaborative Model for Digital Educational Content
Status​
The article has been submitted to the International Conference on Computer Supported Education 2024 and is currently under evaluation
Abstract​
Computer-aided learning has recently seen significant adoption among learners. Automated tools that offer online courses, artificial intelligence assisted tutoring, practice items, etc. have been developed and are available for use.
On the other side of the spectrum, educators are offered little improvement for the process of curating the educational materials that are to be used in the classroom. Worse, even though in most cases the curriculum for one field is similar, different educators create different hand-out materials, homework, practice items, and tests. The preparation for the above is significant and the educational content produced is created, used, and reviewed by a small number of people.
To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a novel methodology for using the open-source collaborative model to create, use, and deliver high-quality educational content. Educational content developed following our methodology guidelines is easy to use, modify, and remix. Educators who want to use the content may easily select the topics of interest from a proposed set and all of the educational materials, such as reading materials, assignments,practice items, and even exam items, will be generated. Some of the content is made available to learners via a generated website, whereas other parts of the content (such as exam items or assignment solutions) may be hidden. Additionally, all of this content is public and usable by anyone, including learners of all types (self-educated or following a formal program). Therefore, the content may be reviewed and updated by multiple educators and learners alike.
We use the proposed methodology to create educational materials for multiple university courses and present the impact of using such materials from both educator and learner perspectives.
Link to Article​
The article is available here.