Website: http://www.open.ac.uk
Contributing Member
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The Open University, known for its commitment to openness and use of leading edge technologies in education is using an open source virtual learning environment for OpenLearn, its open content initiative. The website at www.open.ac.uk/openlearn makes educational resources from Open University courses freely available to anyone in the world, with state-of-the-art learning support and collaboration tools to connect learners and educators in self sustaining communities. Developed in Moodle, OpenLearn allows learners and educators to access, download, adapt and share The Open University’s course materials under a Creative Commons framework. Combining open source and open content improves access to both educational resources and the technology to make those resources meaningful to online learners. The website increases reach of educational materials, reducing the cost barrier to access, course creation and dissemination.
The LearningSpace contains educational resources from 11 subject areas. Each learning unit has clear learning outcomes and a number of activities. Learners can use discussion forums to connect with other learners, write blogs to record their learning experience, and rate and review units.
The LabSpace is an area that encourages a community of practise to develop around the sharing and re-using of open educational resources. Users can download materials, reversion them for their own purposes and upload the amended materials to share with the community.
OpenLearn also provides a range of learning support tools:
- knowledge mapping software (Compendium) to support management, sharing, analysis and tracking of information, ideas and the connections between them;
- enhanced instant messaging (MSG) providing additional information about the user, for example their availability, personal attributes, friend networks, publishing history and annotated photo libraries.;
- video conferencing (FlashMeeting) enabling chat, voting and URL sharing. Users can also re-use meeting content by editing and annotating it and publish video blogs, podcasts and news.
For further information visit the website at www.open.ac.uk/openlearn or contact Laura Dewis, OpenLearn Communications Manager l.dewis@open.ac.uk
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