This interactive group presentation will examine several examples of open learning and engage the audience in a conversation about open initiatives in Web 2.0 learning environments. We will build on current conversations in the field about open and online learning and help to broadly define the idea of Open 2.0 related to our institutional context at SUNY Empire State College. We will also engage the audience in a conversation about open learning at their own institution, and ask participants to work in collaborative groups to develop a conceptual "web of learning" that reflects future directions in Open 2.0.
Each panel participant will introduce a current project or planned initiative that supports open learning. For example, we will discuss the use of freely-available Web 2.0 resources, such as PBWorks, Animoto, Jing, Wordle, VoiceThread, WordPress and Blogger, in an online course about creating digital narratives in multiple modalities. This hybrid open learning model expands the learning management system to include social media resources for the production of student-centered digital content. We will also describe the use of Google Wave to enhance Independent Study projects, while exploring the possibilities for this tool in online courses. This panel will present the Science, Math, Analysis, Reasoning and Technology (SMART) site at SUNY Empire State College which features course previews for "15 online math and science courses designed specifically to engage adult students with contemporary topics in science, math, and technology." In addition, we will describe our participation in Wikieducator training and explain how this approach provides a context to learn more about open learning, especially as it is understood internationally. This panel will provide an instructional design perspective and discuss a project at the Center for Distance Learning to design or convert 5 courses into an open, Wordpress and Drupal environment. This project will include a statistics course, and will emphasize either the sharing of materials with other educators and interested students, or to provide contextualized, facilitated courses in an open learning environment (or both). Further, the impact of social technologies and applications on open learning will create a framework for understanding how instructors currently utilize them to support their face-to-face courses and studies or to create alternative learning environments. We will discuss the concept of open learning and talk about how this learning style provides individuals with alternative ways of receiving instructor support, accessing course materials, and participating in learning activities.
Overall, this group presentation will examine current open learning initiatives at SUNY Empire State College and describe upcoming projects and future directions. As part of our presentation we will provide several models to illustrate the idea of a "web of learning" in today's Web 2.0 environment. We also describe a framework for Open 2.0, which requires us rethink some of our basic assumptions about learning management systems. Our goal is to engage the audience in an interactive conversation about open learning based on our learner-centered, contexualized practices in multiple learning environments. Each participant will leave this presentation with a better understanding of Open 2.0 as well as a conceptual framework for their own "web of learning" to share with colleagues at their host institution.
