A teaching method for language acquisition based on open educational resources, open source technologies, and online communities. Open learning was founded on the work of Célestin Freinet and Maria Montessori. Open learning aims to allow pupils self-determined, independent, and interest-guided learning. More recent work on open learning has been conducted by pedagogues Hans Brügelmann, Falko Peschel, Jörg Ramseger, and Wulf Wallrabenstein. Due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies, open learning has been associated with free learning resources, collaborative study, and open communities.
Published in Chapter:
Case Study: A Collaborative of Content Designers and Developers
Beth Brunk-Chavez (The University of Texas at El Paso, USA) and Sunay Palsole (The University of Texas at El Paso, USA)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-994-6.ch006
Abstract
This chapter features a case study of a collaborative project among a team of writers and a team of multimedia designers and examines their intersections. The chapter’s central question is: What does it take to enable collective collaboration in a virtual writing environment? The chapter is based in part on a study that found that building and strengthening social presence is integral to effective collaboration. The spoken and unspoken social contracts of working toward a common goal in a respectful environment are important. It also found that the technologies must be adoptable, adaptable, and they must enable anywhere/anytime collaboration. Therefore, collaboration using technologies is a complex process involving social presence, availability, and adaption/adoption of technologies with the changing needs of the collaborative team.