Towards Open & Connected Learning

Dr. Alec CourosEdMedia 2010

me

“People donʼt buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

(Simon Sinek)

journey(short version)

“given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”

(Linusʼ Law, Raymond 1997)

“Open source software communities are one of the most

successful -- and least understood -- examples of high performance collaboration and

community building on the Internet today.”

(Kim, 2003)

“A key to transformation is for the teaching profession to establish innovation networks that capture the spirit and culture of hackers -

the passion, the can-do, collective sharing.”

(Hargreaves, 2003)

open / networked

• philosophical stance

• power & control

• access

• design attributes

- privacy/publics

- transparency

- accountability

open(ness)(short version)

open source software

open contentopen access publication

open accreditation

open education

open access coursesopen teaching

free software

open educational resources

open(ness)(short version)

connected(ness)(short version)

• pedagogical & pragmatic stance

• knowledge exchange, curating, wayfinding, crowdsourcing, collaboration, problem solving

• personal learning network/environment (PLN/PLE)

context

Knowledge

• what is k?

• how is k acquired?

• how do we know what we know?

• why do we know what we know?

• what do humans know?

• who controls k?

• how is k controlled?

Questions

Free/Open Content“describes any kind of creative work in a format that explicitly allows copying and

modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organization, firm, or

individual.” (Wikipedia)

Stats as of March 17/10 via Mashable

Media

connected reality

Stats as of Jan 22/10 via Royal Pingdom

media stats (2009)

• 90 trillion emails sent annually from 1.4 billion email users

• 234 million websites

• 1.73 billion Internet users

• 126 millions blogs

• 350 million Facebook users

• 4 billion images on Flickr

• 1 billion Youtube videos served daily.

Networks

• redefine communities, friends, citizenship, identity, presence, privacy, publics, geography.

• enable learning, communication, sharing, collaboration, community.

• networks form around shared interests & objects.

social networks

social tools

creativity w/ abundance

crowd sourcing content

crowd sourcing content

real time collaboration

open practice

“Web 2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect and reimagine what they do as scholars.

Such tools might positively affect -- even transform - research, teaching, and service responsibilities - only if scholars choose to build serious academic lives online, presenting semi-public selves and

becoming invested in and connected to the work of their peers and students.” (Greenhow, Robella, & Hughes, 2009)

blogging

• Filter & develop ideas.

• Scholarly reflection.

• Dissemination of research.

• Calls for contribution & collaboration.

• Share practice.

• Location of academic profile.

• Access to academic thought.

• Record of discourse.

microblogging

• Connect & collaborate with academics from similar or complementary fields.

• Data-mining possibilities (reading vs. conversing)

• Serendipitous connections/conversations.

• Share & disseminate work/calls.

content sharing

• Reach of publication can dwarf traditional venues (Q: “why do we publish?”)

• To share what we do and create for the benefit of others.

• Potential to improve our initial work through CC/NC/ATT licenses.

• Gift economy (we also benefit by content that is shared.

open teaching

open courses - my view

• use of open & free tools wherever possible

• openly accessible experiences

• assessments related to participant practice

• participant-controlled/centred spaces

• range of expertise/participation

• immersive, experimental activities

• scaffolding and just-in-time support

• focus on alternative learning artefacts

• development of long-term learning community

non-credit students

Private Public

Closed Open

finding inspiration

@kathycassidy

Example #1 - Expert Visits

Example #2: Publishing in the Open

ps22chorus.blogspot.com

Example #3: Use of Public Content

@christianlong

Example #4: Educator as ...

Example #5: Portfolios

Example #6: Social Reading

Example #7: Global Mentoring

Example #8: Real-time Feedback

Example #9: Public Scholars

@zephoria

Example #10: Course Trailers

why?(short version)

•*this* is not going away.

•*this* can amplify what we do as traditional academics.

•*this* can reshape/reinvent/reinvigorate and greatly improve what we do.

web: couros.catwitter: courosagoogle: couros

couros@gmail.com

Donʼt limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in

another time. ~Tagore