Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open Educational Resources

The purpose of Open Education Resources (OER) is to support learners and teachers in developing individual and collaborative ways of learning. The key assumption of OER is that, given access to the knowledge they need or want, and given the ability to interact with other learners, people will evolve social and collaborative methods of learning that are better than traditional learning methods.

Learning is about knowledge acquisition. People generally learn in groups by making connections with the subject material and connecting with others doing the same. Learning is the result of synthesis, sense‐making, discovery and sharing with others, but each learner is also unique and brings his or her unique contribution to learning. This model of learning is based on the proposition that access to knowledge and interaction with others with the same learning goals will improve learning, and any technology that facilities either will lead to better learning.

The modern internet is ideally suited for this type of work. Web 2.0 applications not only give access to unprecedented amounts of information but also allow individuals to add to that information, to choose exactly what they need and to interact seamlessly with others online. However, the assumption that online access and sharing with other people will automatically lead to better learning lacks empirical evidence and is widely disputed. This book is an attempt to provide that evidence. It reports on case studies, software analysis, classroom interventions and other research into the creation and use of OERs, content creation and sharing and ways to encourage social learning.

The first part considers the question of whether communally produced resources are inherently better than resources produced by an individual, and whether the open source model is the right one for public education. The second section is about reuse of resources and the ethics and utility of copying, translating, adapting and create new resources from mash‐ups of old resources. The third section looks at the practicality and effectiveness of public additions and editing, and the pedagogical value of user generated content. The final section gathers together disparate articles centred on social learning, rich media and the use of games as vehicles for learning.

Overall, this collection does not offer any definitive answers but does deliver a wide‐ranging review of the ideas and activities currently driving OER and how they are changing the way educators are thinking about teaching and learning.