I think I first heard the term; "Open Source Learning" in chat in the Webcast Academy. I thought I knew what it was. I figured it referred to us choose what content we wanted to learn on the internet. I heard Will Richardson refer to ideas on the Read-Write Web and the like. I also keep up with other superbloggers like Wesley Fryer, Miguel Ghulin, David Warlick, Christopher Sessums, Steven Downes just to name a few. I even particpated in K12Online last year and Web Heads in Action Online Conference this year along with Necc2007 not to mention everything happening at edtechtalk. Nevertheless understanding comes through the practice or application and not theory. Not until Webcast Academy did I begin to understand Open Source Learning. It just all clicked today. I got a call from Kevin Sandridge a teacher in central Florida, we had a long talk about web 2.0 and implications for Second Language Learners, Yesterday Susan was asking about classes to recruit for youthbridges. I had a conversation with Chris Craft about a project on digital storytelling on Friday. And Today it just came all together. Dennis was uploading his file to Webcast Academy. It didn't show up in the flash player. I thought I would help out. How hard could it be. 80 minutes later with Susan patiently waiting on the sidelines we defeated the audacity gremlins and sucessfully uploaded the file. I felt great and was happy to be able to contribute. Open Source Learning means building on collective knowledge. NOW, I've GOT IT!
I hope you get a chance to try this out for yourself. Leave a comment if you have a reflection about this.Over and Out,
Cheryl
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