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I am wondering how this will play into the emerging notion of personalized learning environments? If we are concerned that faculty will refuse to keep up (which I disagree with), then how do we work with students to take greater responsibility in their life long scholarship? What do these types of technological and social advances mean to an individual students ability to forge meaning from various content sources, connect classroom activities to external open courseware, and how do they form new relationships via social networks that help support them? These are the new questions associated with learning in my mind. How will openness (and the increasing willingness of content providers to participate) fundamentally shift how we stay connected to our own intellectual development?

9. drs18 - november 8th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

I think that any student motivated enough to seek control of their life long scholarship, may, with these types of technological and social advances, no longer see value added in university attendance if the university stays the way it is. Where once concerned faculty could suggest a course, a club, or a personal contact, those same opportunities are becoming global and exist with or without the university. There is no guidance, though; no plan, no assessment, no oversight. Are you thinking virtual mentors? A student prepared course of study with suggested routes of social participation? I’m just guessing what the scenario would be, but it sounds like the sort of university that I might attend.

10. ken - november 8th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Such a smart post and so many smart comments and good questions. I feel funny even thinking about adding more questions. So, I won’t. Instead I will tell you about what I am thinking.

There is real potential for disaggregation of the traditional bundle of services and value-adds that institutions of higher education have offered. In fact, I do not think that it is too far off. Although the trend is perhaps made more obvious when considering non-traditional (adult and distance learners) than those who decided to spend a few years on physical “destination campuses,” it is obvious (based on this post) that our typical use of technology and effective use of community developed and applied knowledge is not where it might be. That is, many of us feel as if we are not meeting our potential, and perhaps many learners would agree with us.

It is my feeling that the Academy (faculty and administration) is having trouble understanding its role in OpenEducation and is perhaps being less than embracing, not because the advantages are not obvious, but because the threats are. This being the case, some of the real innovation is being lead by academics (faculty and administrators) operating outside of the academy:

with additional activities and examples from other knowledge and information intensive sectors like publishing and broadcasting.

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Source:  OpenStax, The impact of open source software on education. OpenStax CNX. Mar 30, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10431/1.7
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