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Last Issue:
Tuesday,
December
18
2007
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Learning Across Virtual Boundaries
By Monette Austin Bailey
Published on 20-Nov-07
Increased access to information through technology allows people to learn across all sorts of boundaries, asserts Curtis Bonk, with Indiana University's Schools of Education and Informatics. So professors would do well to embrace emerging content-sharing tools to enhance both students' learning experiences and their academic reach.
Bonk spoke to a small group as part of the College of Information Studies' fall colloquium series. His presentation, How the Learning World Became Flat: Ten Knowledge Sharing and Technology Trends Equalizing Access to Learning, was itself enhanced by humorous sound clips and funny hats. Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology, demonstrated myriad ways that people use technology to create open-source content sites and blended learning environments that make sharing knowledge easier.
Borrowing from the premise of Tom Friedman's bestseller, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Bonk outlined ways in which e-learning is becoming more open :
1. Web searching in the world of e-books
2. E-learning and blended (online and face-to-face) learning
3. Availability of open source and free software
4. Leveraged resources and opencourseware
5. Learning object repositories and portals
6. Learner participation in open info communities
7. Electronic collaboration and interaction
8. Alternate reality learning (online massive gaming, simulations and virtual worlds)
9. Real-time mobility and portability
10. Networks of personalized learning (blogs, RSS)
He offered several examples of each, such as the University of Houston's Digital History Project that features lesson plans and materials representing several ethnic groups. Or tools such as a Moodle, a free course content management system to help educators develop online learning communities. There's even a Teacher Tube. "One to two percent of YouTube is educational," he said, adding that it just takes a little digging.
Bonk does most of his research on e-learning and blended learning environments. He said that more universities are finding nontraditional ways to reach students. Several universities are not even bothering with brick and mortar sites, such as Florida Virtual University. He says that the trend toward virtual is international. Open University Malaysia, for example, had approximately 800 students in 2001 when it opened. In 2005, it boasted approximately 33,00 students using 33 learning centers.
By taking advantage of the many online content databases, shared learning environments and free courses, Bonk says that instructors can offer students a richer learning experience.
Here a few of his Web resources:
National Repository for Online Courses,
Public Library of Science
OpenCourseWare Consortium
Museum of Online Museums
The Center for Open and Sustainable Learning
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