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Open e-Textbooks for Access to Music Education

Open e-Textbooks for Access to Music Education

This is the blog of the Open e-Textbooks for Access to Music Education project. This project is a collaboration between the Reid School of Music and Education, Design and Engagement, and is generously funded by a Student Experience Grant.

Ifeanyichukwu’s Final Reflection on the Project

By Ifeanyichukwu Ezinmadu.

My stance on the significance of the open education resources (OER) music theory e-textbook project – to me, the university, and the user of the material – is multidimensional with several questions I thought about during the project. Such that include (1) What does OER mean to me? (2) Has this project broadened my understanding of the importance of OER? (3) How relevant is this material to anyone that uses it? (4) Is OER the future of educational resources? All these cannot be answered independently because of the complexity around creating OER such as the appropriate level of open license offered, the financial benefit for OER authors and publishers, the credit of the authors as the material become adapted by other users. Nevertheless, I will endeavour to answer the questions as concise as I perceive them to be as this project comes to an end.

 

  1. What does OER mean to me?

OER means opportunity to me. The opportunity to share knowledge of a subject in a more accessible format that is mostly not bound by financial capability to access the material. Hereby, creating a channel that facilitates equal educational opportunity for all.

 

  1. Has this project broadened my understanding of the importance of OER?

Certainly Yes! Through this project, I have developed a better understanding that OER present the flexibility for students, teachers, content creators and end users to have access to, modify, and adapt materials in a way that is not usually permissible via traditional textbooks.

 

  1. How relevant is this material to anyone that uses it?

To a great extent, I believe that the content will be resourceful to the users. The content of the e-textbook is an adaptation and modification of an existing MOOC music theory course which was created by a collection of instructors from the Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh. As opposed to having a sole authorship, this material discusses music theory in a broader perspective.

 

  1. Is OER the future of educational resources?

Certainly, I speculate that more OER will be created and utilised to a great extent by educational institutions. Regarding this project, this will be the first OER music textbook to be published on the University of Edinburgh OER platform, hereby, setting the mark for future OER at the University which can be utilised by students during their time at the university and beyond.

 

In all, this project has got me inspired towards creating an independent OER project in music theory based on the ABRSM theory syllabus. To achieve this new goal of mine, I look forward to deploying skills developed on this project such as collaboration, research, design thinking, and other technical skills. I will dearly miss the entire team that has made this Project a possibility – Lorna, Charlie, Nikki, Kari, and Ana – and I look forward to engaging with other opportunities within and beyond the University of Edinburgh to learn and contribute meaningfully towards music education projects.

 

Header image: by Deike Kracke from Pixabay 

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