The Open Education Movement at a Crossroads: Silos, Services and Sustainability
Like so many other parts of the Web, online educational systems are rapidly evolving from relatively static repositories towards a dynamic systems that encourages sharing, innovation, and highly customized learning experiences. This new digital space is facilitating a paradigm shift in educational practice, towards a global "open" education commons. The fundamental premise for this open-education movement is that access to educational opportunities is a human right, not a privilege. This movement is evolving in parallel with the internet generally, as seen in the recent explosion of social networking sites. However, this transition is just beginning, and is not at all assured. Different definitions of "open" abound, and different legal and technical platforms threaten to undermine the capacity of users to achieve the promised goals. In this presentation, I will describe these threats in greater detail, focusing primarily on the current lack of interoperability among supposedly synergistic efforts, and the resulting burden on service designs. I will also discuss some possible resolutions to these issues, highlighting the work of ccLearn in this area.
Ahrash Bissell comes to CC from Duke University (Durham, NC) where he was a Research Associate in Biology and the Assistant Director of the Academic Resource Center. He received his BS in Biology in 1994 from UC San Diego, followed by a Ph.D. in Biology in 2001 from the University of Oregon, where he pursued research on animal behavior and evolutionary genetics. While he has continued an active research and teaching program in biology, the bulk of his time in recent years was focused on educational research and technology, pedagogical and curriculum development, assessment (with a focus on critical-thinking skills and metacognition), and facilitating interdisciplinary research, especially via open dissemination, data sharing, and Web-based "communities of expertise." He is also a board member (and current International director) for InnoWorks and a research consultant for the Alexandria Archive Institute.