OpenLearn
OpenLearn is the British Open University's contribution to the Open Educational Resources (OER) project. It is partially funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation . OpenLearn is a member of the OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC).
history
The Open University launched the OpenLearn website in October 2006 to make educational material freely available to the world . The publication of these structured learning materials, which have been designed for distance learning , is unique in the field of Open Educational Resources .
Principles
Open Education is involved in three areas. It makes new knowledge available for everyone (not just for the few who pay for it). It allows users to download , modify, translate, and adapt the material to expand its usefulness. It offers the possibility of working together collaboratively or cooperatively in a continuous improvement cycle in the areas of modification , development, testing and re-development and testing (with changed material) . The use of open educational resources aims at the global resolution of access restrictions to knowledge and educational opportunities .
Through the virtual Moodle -based learning environment, learners are offered over 400 structured and multimedia learning units. These are enriched by a variety of learning and communication tools in the learning environment. Instant messaging , video conferencing , video blogs and Internet forums enable learning groups to be set up consisting of many learners, thousands of lessons and learning materials. Knowledge mapping software enables learners to visually represent the learning material and the connections within it. This makes it easier to assign arguments and debates . The publication of the work done on the learning material of the learners on the website shows the progress / changes of all persons involved in the material concerned.
The content can also be extracted and reassembled to present it in a new form. The Web 2.0 approach towards a free and collaborative learning environment (LearningSpace) for learners is completed by the LabSpace, where professionals are encouraged to download, improve and adapt both current and archived teaching materials. The Open University's multimedia materials, published under the Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial-Creative-Commons license, can be reused, repurposed, translated and expanded with regard to other teaching contexts in order to generate a larger free source of derived teaching materials. Participants are encouraged to design their own area in the LabSpace, to personalize the teaching materials, to increase the relevance of the content for specific learning communities, to test new ideas for teaching and to further develop teaching material based on feedback from users.
Viral content
OpenLearn enables viral content not only through its licensing model, but also through its commitment to open technologies. The use of a virtual open source learning environment together with the possibility for people to download or upload learning materials in different formats supports the reproduction of the content and allows interoperability with other providers of content management systems. The learning materials were implemented in standard software libraries in order to grant access to globally distributed communities. The content can easily be embedded in web-based widgets and RSS readers with RSS feeds in order to use the content away from OpenLearn.
LabSpace hosting
At the end of the first phase of funding (April 30, 2008), OpenLearn comprised more than 5,000 hours of Open University teaching materials. In addition, users generated additional content in the LabSpace.
Web links
swell
- ↑ "Our story - How OpenLearn started" ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Open University
- ↑ Frequently asked questions on OpenLearn. Retrieved June 30, 2016 .
- ^ OCW Consortium Members
- ↑ LabSpace
