Open End Education

This guide provides user friendly advice and support for those currently involved with open learning and those considering it for the first time. 500 Tips for Open and Online Learning aims not only to save time but also to enhance the quality of the learning experience which learners will draw from open and online learning. There are six sections of the book which cover: What is open and online learning, why use it and how? how to set up open and online learning programmes designing new resource materials putting technology to work supporting open learners assessing open learning. This practical guide will be an invaluable resource, providing immediate help to the increasing number of people now under pressure to design, support and deliver open learning programmes.

This engaging open access book discusses how a values and valuing perspective can facilitate a more effective mathematics pedagogical experience, and allows readers to explore multiple applications of the values perspective across different education systems. It also clearly shows that teaching mathematics involves not only reasoning and feelings, but also students’ interactions with their cultural setting and each other. The book brings together the work of world leaders and new thinkers in mathematics educational research to improve the learning and teaching of mathematics. Addressing themes such as discovering hidden cultural values, a multicultural society and methodological issues in the investigation of values in mathematics, it stimulates readers to consider these topics in cross-cultural ways, and offers suggestions for research and classroom practice. It is a valuable resource for scholars of mathematics education, from early childhood through to higher education and an inspiring read for all mathematics teachers.

Containing costs for students in higher education is paramount to the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the State of Colorado. Although data suggest that earning a postsecondary credential improves individual earning potential and offers robust return on investment, the cost of college or technical school remains a barrier for many Coloradans. To this end, CDHE is building capacity for wide-scale implementation of open educational resources (OER), free or very low-cost teaching and learning materials that live in the open domain.

In this comprehensive response to the education crisis, the author of Teaching as a Subversive Activity returns to the subject that established his reputation as one of our most insightful social critics. Postman presents useful models with which schools can restore a sense of purpose, tolerance, and a respect for learning.

Today we are seeing a new form of blended learning: not only is technology enhancing the learning environment but formal and informal learning are combining and there is self- and peer-assessment of results. Open learning cultures are challenging the old and long-practiced methods used by educators and transforming learning into a more student-driven and independent activity , which uses online tools such as blogs, wikis or podcasts to connect resources, students and teachers in a novel way. While in higher education institutions most assessments are still tied to formal learning scenarios, teachers are more and more bound to recognize their students’ informal learning processes and networks. This book will help teachers, lecturers and students to better understand how open learning landscapes work, how to define quality and create assessments in such environments, and how to apply these new measures. To this end, Ehlers first elaborates the technological background for more collaborative, distributed, informal, and self-guided learning. He covers the rise of social media for learning and shows how an architecture of participation can change learning activities. These new paradigms are then applied to learning and education to outline what open learning landscapes look like. Here he highlights the shift from knowledge transfer to competence development, the increase in lifelong learning, and the importance of informal learning, user generated content, and open educational resources. He then shows how to manage quality by presenting a step by step guide to developing customized quality concepts for open learning landscapes. Finally, several methods dealing with assessment in these new environments are presented, including guidelines, templates and use cases to exemplify the approaches. Overall, Ehlers argues for assessment as an integral part of learning processes, with quality assurance as a method of stimulating a quality culture and continuous quality development rather than as a simple controlling exercise.

This book comprises the full selected Regular Lectures from the Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-12), which was held at COEX in Seoul, Korea, from July 8th to 15th, 2012. ICME-12 brought together 4700 experts from 100 countries, working to understand all of the intellectual and attitudinal challenges in the subject of mathematics education as a multidisciplinary research and practice. These selected Regular Lectures present the work of fifty-one prominent mathematics educators from all over the globe. The Lectures cover a wide spectrum of topics, themes and issues and aim to give direction to future research towards educational improvement in the teaching and learning of mathematics education. This book is of particular interest to researchers, teachers and curriculum developers in mathematics education.

With the success of open access publishing, Massive open online courses (MOOCs) and open education practices, the open approach to education has moved from the periphery to the mainstream. This marks a moment of victory for the open education movement, but at the same time the real battle for the direction of openness begins. As with the green movement, openness now has a market value and is subject to new tensions, such as venture capitalists funding MOOC companies. This is a crucial time for determining the future direction of open education. In this volume, Martin Weller examines four key areas that have been central to the developments within open education: open access, MOOCs, open education resources and open scholarship. Exploring the tensions within these key arenas, he argues that ownership over the future direction of openness is significant to all of those with an interest in education.

Affordable education. Transparent science. Accessible scholarship. These ideals are slowly becoming a reality thanks to the open education, open science, and open access movements. Running separate—if parallel—courses, they all share a philosophy of equity, progress, and justice. This book shares the stories, motives, insights, and practical tips from global leaders in the open movement.

The essays in this edited collection reflect on the nature of open education resources, where the question on openness for education emerges.