Annelle Keller - responding to Richard Baraniuk on Open Source Learning

Open-Source Learning - The most up-to-date information can be written and shared by authors, readers, and learners. 

WOW!  Digitized Technologies - Authors writing textbooks and allowing them to be updated, improved, and shared by others all for FREE!  This type of "Knowledge Ecosystem", as Baraniuk calls it, continuously creates educational materials, sharing them with the world, and is constantly able to improve them. Digital on-demand publishers move the publication progress from a single author to community authors.   This type of Open-Source Learning also allows customation of books that helps learners to go beyond regular textbooks enabling them to "play as they do".  Learners are able to grasp a better understanding of the context.  Being able to customize books also helps to individualize learning allowing certain books to fit the needs of the learner.  Additionally, being able to customized books allows teachers to create the content and all the while personalizing it to each individual class and/or student.

At first, I was concerned about how accurate the content would be if just "anybody" could share and update the information that would be used in Open-Source Learning.  Upon further research on Open-Source Learning, I found out that the authors' names appear with their work.  There is a careful review process before content is made publicly available. 

Technology has become an integral part of our life and learning patterns in the 21^st century. The internet, blogs and smart phones are some examples of tools that we use to grow in our knowledge and understanding. Using technology like this in the classroom requires more than knowing how to use the tool. Teachers need to understand the role of technology in the learning process, and the principles behind integrating it in a way that  promotes learning.