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"MOOCs offer opportunities but are also pose the danger of further exacerbating existing educational divisions and deepening the homogeneity of global knowledge systems."

Very interesting! Thanks. "MOOCs and MOOC-type courses have added a new dimension to the educational landscape by strengthening the non-formal educational space and providing opportunities to experiment with the disaggregated components of the educational experience"

After watching the Willinsky video, this hit home even more. I think the value of quality education is extremely important, and creating a "global village" of learning is still in its growing pains. Having a face-to-face instructor/professor/facilitator lets you ask the questions that pop to mind and being in a classroom setting allows an idea to flow and develop into other ideas. There are a lot of social media tools that are familiar to a lot of students living in a Western culture, but those social tools are not always available to developing countries; many do not have access to schools or even have a computer - as this article indicates, MOOCs are certainly a venue that opens learning opportunities for those who do not have access to learning in a formal environment, but may have access to the internet. What I particularly found interesting were the various MOOC categories - Gateway: MOOCs for prepping to get into higher learning; Research showcase: promote an institute's research areas; Professional skills: MOOCs for those who need to "upskill" or specialize…and there are others. The main reason for taking this course was to improve my knowledge of what social media is out there (MOOCs are part of it), how it is being used, and how useful is this "new" media is within the publishing realm. It is a challenge.

Old article worth a read considering the large release of 'Destiny' this week, another massive open world game to help connect users globally Online multiplayer communities are social networks built around multiplayer online computer games. Members of these communities typically share an interest in online gaming and a great deal of the interaction between them is technologically mediated. It is a playground which can give us clues about the future of social and technological developments, according to the researcher.

I`m reading this http://bit.ly/1qbGmKK but I haven`t formed an opinion, not being a gamer myself.

Free access to 3 articles: The Unfolding of the Knowledge Commons pp. 13-24(12) Author: Hess, Charlotte Free Content From Lobsters to Universities: The Making of the Knowledge Commons pp. 25-42(18) Author: Caffentzis, C. George Open Access Scientific Publishing and the Developing World pp. 43-69(27) Author: Contreras, Jorge

Hi Raúl. Thanks for sharing these free resources. Which one do you like best? Which new insight did you gain?

I think Elinor Ostrom's approach to commons pool resources (used by Hess, for example) is very useful not only for understand the case of natural resources as commons (the tragedy of the commons to which it was originally applied), but to matters more close to this course, as knowledge. The approach is useful because it complicates the original perspective on commons. Originally (Elinor Ostrom) her perspective considered only group boundaries clearly defined (very small groups, peasants or indigenous); rules governing the use of collective goods well matched to local needs and conditions; cases where most individuals affected by these rules can participate in modifying the rules; the right of community members to devise their own rules is respected by external authorities; monitoring mechanisms by community & graduated sanctions. With the new commons (surprisingly, not only knowledge but roads, budgets, radio spectrum; medical commons, atmospheric commons and even silence as commons), new questions rises on the evolution or building new types of commons with no pre-existing rules and norms; increasingly complex; with size, communities, incentives often unknown; extremely dynamic; reactions to threats of enclosure; heterogeneous community; new forms of collaboration and collective action; and global in many cases. I think is a perspective that can help a lot in the case of knowledge and new forms of learning.

I liked this article on the tension between indigenous knowledge, which wants to be closed and contained, and open knowledge which wants to be freely accessible to all. It highlights the need to find a balancing middle path between the two trajectories. This issue speaks to the sources found in Additional resources in Module 1.

I really cannot recommend this resource highly enough. The brainchild and master's thesis of a lawyer-turned-information professional, SIPX is an incredible blend of copyright control centre, digital distribution hub, and online marketplace. With the impending downfall of Access Copyright and its rejection by most Canadian universities, schools have had to quickly learn about copyright and establish good practices and guidelines, but this product provides the safest legal protection while considerably upgrading the dissemination of course readings; it also makes strides that push against the dominance of the traditional textbook market. It has already been adopted by several major American universities, including Stanford (where it was developed; it seems all the greatest open knowledge stuff is coming out of there!) and Notre Dame. Did I mention that it even supports MOOCs? I just found out about this resource while doing a practicum placement for library school, and I can't believe that I'd never heard of it before. It's exactly the kind of integrated library and informational system that needs to happen in academic institutions, and while it's not explicitly modelled on open access, it relies on many of the same values that we've talked about throughout this course. Check it out!

Online education

open knowledge online teaching and learning

Thanks for sharing this write up. Though it is written in the context of African continent, it holds true for any developing country. MOOCs have potential to reach out to the masses if rightly implemented. accessibility to technology at the learner end is a a major issue and it needs to be addressed first to make MOOCs relevant and sustainable.

Worldwide learning network of shared teaching and learning materials made freely available online. Grouped by subject area and grade level

OER Commons is a dynamic digital content hub, offering a suite of OER implementation supports.

A well developed website for Open educational resources

As a tradesperson working in the skill development landscape, I found this article about a group of passionate industry folks collaborating to build a knowledge base and fill a need not being addressed by formal educational channels quite compelling.

"By leveraging technology, we can open new doors to scholarly inquiry for ourselves and our students. Through new collaborations, we can create exciting shared spaces, both virtual and physical, where that inquiry can take place. The library is a natural home for these technology-rich spaces.

This article is fantastic, and speaks to just about everything I'm passionate about as an aspiring academic librarian. I'm somewhat worried about how smaller universities-my chosen workplace-will adapt to these newer models of scholarly communication and publication, and generally with how the academic conversation is changing. These exciting developments in what the university means have the potential to widen the already extensive divide between smaller and larger schools. I know the challenges section at the end talks a little bit about convincing decision makers to fund these projects, but has anyone read anything about how these changes can be made specifically by smaller or poorly funded universities?

"OA journal publishing is disrupting the dominant subscription-based model of scientific publishing, having rapidly grown in relative annual share of published journal articles during the last decade. "

"It is the first TEDx talk of the founder of Free Software movement. Stallman, RMS for short, has changed the world with his vision of freedom for the digital age. He launched the GNU operating system, used with Linux as a component, and inspired the development of Creative Commons licences and Wikipedia project. In this talk, Stallman describes how nonfree programs give companies control of their users and what users can do in order to recover control over their computing."

In week 3 we've addressed how open knowledge can promote active citizenship. A pre-requisite for that is that individuals are equipped with the right set of digital skills. Being digital native does not necessarily imply that one is digital competent. The promotion of digital skills is at least as important as ensuring accessibility to technology. This document is a reference framework to identify what are the different elements of digital skills as these go much beyond than merely knowing how to use a computer. This has been developed by the European Commission, engaging several different stakeholders from several countries, and is being used as a support to strategies for the promotion of digital skills.

An interesting story about an initiative how to contribute to the development of Wikipedia content for a small country in its language.

Identity development is a role that partakes every person's life. Whether their identity falls under race, gender, sexual orientation, or culture each person can connect with one of these classifications to differentiate themselves from the next. Of course there will be those who share the same classifications of identity, but will find a different aspect of themselves to further identify themselves. This article introduces the the "borderlines" of how race, culture, sexual orientation, even physiques connects and is influenced by the digital/cyber world.

This interesting inset describes an early classification system for medieval manuscripts, taking early steps to make information easier to access. I thought that it would be interesting to add for the group.

The reality is the present is the foundation for the future. The medieval libraries were effective and serving the needs of that generation. The same generation found loopholes that led to the development of what we call modern libraries. We no w know who to thanks for the wonderful and life and time saving GPS!

The future will always trace its existence from the past which laid down the foundation. The shape of the libraries of the future is being crafted now. The GPS we see now has its roots in the Medieval libraries.