{"id":1138,"date":"2007-12-06T15:21:27","date_gmt":"2007-12-06T15:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designedtoinspire.com\/blog\/open-ed-week-15-wrap-up\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T22:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T03:04:37","slug":"open-ed-week-15-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designedtoinspire.com\/blog\/open-ed-week-15-wrap-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Ed – Week 15: Wrap Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. David Wiley’s Introduction to Open Education<\/a> course has been an amazing experience. I took the course as part of an Independent Study option in the last semester of my Master’s Program in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. I had no idea what “open education” was before the semester started and guessed that it was about openly licensing instructional content. While I later came to realize licensing is a significant consideration, the possibilities of open education reach far beyond content distribution.<\/p>\n

Because of my involvement in the course, I also decided to attend the 2007 Open Education Conference<\/a> hosted by Dr. Wiley and the great folks at Utah State University. This provided me the opportunity to work closely with a great Professor at Indiana University, Dr. Anne Leftwich<\/span>, to develop a presentation on what evolved into our interpretation of an open learning environment, as highlighted in my week 13 blog post.<\/a> That presentation has become far more than an assignment in a class or a discussion at a conference. I consider the concepts of openness (the removal of barriers to participation), connections (to peers, to facilitators, to the world), and support (the “someone”, the “something”, or the”network” there to help) to be a crucial part of the next iteration of my personal theory of learning and instruction<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The most valuable aspect of this experience is the connection to others that I have made through this journey, both within this class and at the conference. My blog roll now has over 50 new “voices” who share a common passion for openness, connection, and support in learning. Each person I have met (in person or virtually) is truly passionate about not only learning, but also the possibilities<\/span>. We live in a very exciting time where openness, connection, and support in learning has never been easier. Yet, unfortunately, opportunities are being blocked, filtered, banned, or placed behind walled gardens. Sometimes out of greed. Sometimes out of the fear of the unknown. It is so inspiring to know that there are kindred spirits in the world who share my desire to plow though those walls and take advantage of the endless opportunities made possible through greater openness.<\/p>\n

Beyond personal connections, I have been happily overwhelmed by the vetted content that was shared this semester. Certainly, on my own, I would never have stumbled upon the reports, presentations, and web sites that we have been exposed to this semester. Specifically, I found the following reports from the first weeks of the semester to provide excellent overviews of the open education movement. I consider them “must reads” for those dipping a toe into the open education waters:<\/p>\n