elearnspace

IRRODL just released a special issue on Openness and the Future of Education. Future of education is not an explicit focus in the articles, but can be anticipated as a result of the focus of the articles. Topics include: openess and textbooks, peer-to-peer learning, impact of openness, disaggregated future of higher education, and even an article reviewing CCK08 (the open course I taught with Stephen Downes last fall – the 2009 version is going strong as well). A strong issue – congrats to Terry Anderson, David Wiley, and John Hilton III.
I keep returning to a question that is often overlooked in discussions of openness: What happens once everything is open? So far we have a fair bit of experience with the impact of open content on curriculum, a bit less experience with the impact of openness on teaching/learning, and almost nothing on how the system of education itself is impacted. Openness is not the end game. It’s a transitory stage that will shape teaching and learning. My interest lies with the emerging landscape of systemic change.