What is open learning and what does open learning mean? This has led me to think about the benefits of total open learning. What if learning was open and innovative what wonderful benefits there could be for society. What hampers Open source learning? Is it profit seeking? Would there be more innovation and greater discovery of forward thinking solutions to existing problems.
To me it seems that learning is changing and will change more in the next few years. And maybe open source learning is paving the way. With open source learning knowledge is being unlocked for people that could not have access to such structures previously. This enables growth that in turn will lead to results understanding and new ideas inventions and an overall brighter future.
Open source learning is either free sources of education or free but certificate accreditation is paid for. This openness lead me thinking about being open in all forms of education and sharing within academic structures. To me the biggest aim of education should be equip students with information and sharing among lecturing peers should increase outputs to students. Collaboration leads to better understanding whether it is criticism or added understanding it enhances the processes. What we share when we share and how we share is all still not an exact science and will most probably be led by peoples own views of how the perceive this new field. It also relies on some belief in society and the good of humanity.
What is the role of an educator in a world of open source learning? This is a difficult question personally to answer. But I feel it is better to embrace this situation than to deny it. Open source learning will pose a new space and territory for educators but if it is accessed correctly it should lead to benefits. One such benefit was identified by our PBL group as a way to market courses of institutions. This could be a good way for interested students to assess if the field is of interest to them.
The ideal according to me would probably be in a form of a mixed method. Open source with certification or a certain part practical and open source and perhaps defined as another part of the work more traditional course based.
Technology is definitely assisting open source learning in growing and in the technology fields I think this type of openness and sharing has grown much more than in other industries. In the programming field the concept of openness has been used widely.
The tools for openness is also growing and many apps and
are assisting the development of open learning. The way in which we embrace this personally will be linked to our confidence skills and knowledge about technology and industry experience.
The future lies open in front of us! Will we go bravely into it and embrace it with open arms. I do hope so!
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