Towards Open & Connected Learning
Dr. Alec Couros EdMedia 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 open(ness) • access (short version) • design attributes - privacy/publics - transparency - accountability

open(ness) (short version) open education
free software open source software open educational resources open content open access publication open access courses open teaching open accreditation

• pedagogical & pragmatic stance
connected • knowledge exchange, curating, wayfinding, (ness) crowdsourcing, (short version) collaboration, problem solving • personal learning network/environment (PLN/PLE)

context

Knowledge

Questions • 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?

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

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. Stats as of Jan 22/10 via Royal Pingdom

Networks

social networks • redefine communities,
friends, citizenship, identity, presence, privacy, publics, geography. • enable learning, communication, sharing, collaboration, community. • networks form around shared interests & objects.

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

Example #1 - Expert Visits
@kathycassidy

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

• *this* is not going
away. • *this* can amplify why? what we do as (short version) traditional academics. • *this* can reshape/ reinvent/reinvigorate and greatly improve what we do.

Donʼt limit a child to
your own learning, for he was born in another time. ~Tagore web: couros.ca twitter: courosa google: couros couros@gmail.com