Open Source Learning
November 5th, 2008
Open Source is another buzz word that has become a part of our daily vocabulary. When I think of open source I think of software development where the tools are free. This has lead to a lot of really great innovation as companies can now build products faster and cheaper.
The world today is all about sharing and the traditional model of making money by charging for the information has changed.
Open source has now gone beyond personal photos and videos. Open Source Learning is the new way to learn all you need is an internet connection and a computer.
In the past to get access to any university course material you had to sign up or audit the class for a fee. If you could not physically be present then there was no way to get the information beyond buying the expensive text book. Today forward thinking institutions are putting their lecture notes, exams and videos for free online!!!!
MIT Open Courseware is one such institution. Wow, in the past only the elite could get access to this information but now anyone who is willing to be self taught now has access. This is pretty powerful.
Moodle is a course management system that is absoloutely free!!! They are building an olnine learning community. It runs off one computer and is scalable to an institution with 200,000 students. It’s available in over 75 languages.
With the sharing of information happening for free so to speak, information is no longer power as anyone can have access to it.
Tags: social learning, Social Media
