The World Is Open

Web-based technology has opened up education around the world to the point where anyone can learn anything from anyone else at any time. To help educators and others understand what's possible, Curt Bonk employs his groundbreaking "WE-ALL-LEARN" model to outline ten key technology and learning trends, demonstrating how technology has transformed educational opportunities for learners of every age in every corner of the globe. The book is filled with inspiring stories of ordinary learners as well as interviews with technology and education leaders that reveal the power of this new way of learning.

• Captures the global nature of open education from those who are creating and using new learning technologies
• Includes a new Preface and Postscript with the latest updates
• A free companion web site provides additional stories and information

Using the dynamic "WE-ALL-LEARN" model, learners, educators, executives, administrators, instructors, and parents can discover how to tap into the power of Web technology and unleash a world of information.

Introduction to the Open Learning World 1

1 We All Learn 25

2 To Search and to Scan 55

Opener #1: Web Searching in the World of E-Books

3 E-Demand Around the Globe 91

Opener #2: E-Learning and Blended Learning

4 It's a Free Software World After All 139

Opener #3: Availability of Open Source and Free Software

5 MIT in Every Home 163

Opener #4: Leveraged Resources and OpenCourseWare

6 Portals for the People 183

Opener #5: Learning Object Repositories and Portals

7 Making a Contribution 203

Opener #6: Learner Participation in Open Information Communities

8 Collaborate or Die! 249

Opener #7: Electronic Collaboration and Interaction

9 Who Are You? 275

Opener #8: Alternative Reality Learning

10 U-Learning? 293

Opener #9: Real-Time Mobility and Portability

11 Learning at Your Service 327

Opener #10: Networks of Personalized Learning

12 The Treasures and Traps of This Open Learning World 355

Acknowledgments 409

The Author 415

Endnotes 419

Index 461

Curtis J. Bonk, Ph.D., is professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. Drawing on his background as a corporate controller, CPA, educational psychologist, and instructional technologist, Bonk offers unique insights into the intersection of business, education, psychology, and technology. A well-known authority on emerging technologies for learning, Bonk reflects on his speaking experiences around the world in his popular blog, TravelinEdMan. He has written many articles and coauthored several widely used books, including Empowering Online Learning, The Handbook of Blended Learning, and Electronic Collaborators. He is also founder and president of SurveyShare and president of CourseShare.

Praise for The World Is Open

"In this epic effort, Dr. Bonk takes the technologies, the concepts, the future and even the past of distance education and synthesizes it into a comprehensible landscape. . . . Masterful!"
—GLENN R. JONES, chancellor, Jones International University

". . . .This book captures the true potential of technology and open and shared content to eliminate the educational divide. For this reason, The World Is Open is required reading for all participants in the world’s ongoing, technology-led education revolution."
—SCOTT MCNEALY, chairman and co-founder, Sun Microsystems and founder, Curriki.org

"Curtis Bonk . . . . synthesizes a staggering range of views and tools into one of the widest and most readable overviews yet of the world of open learning starting to envelop all of us."
—MARTIN DOUGIAMAS, founder and lead developer of Moodle and executive director of Moodle Pty. Ltd.

"As everyone now knows, thanks to Thomas Friedman, the world is flat. And now, thanks to Curtis Bonk, we know that the world of learning is open."
—MILTON CHEN, executive director, The George Lucas Educational Foundation, publishers of Edutopia magazine and edutopia.org

"Open software and open learning—those two concepts are rocking the world. . . . Bonk has brought together the key ideas underlying this wave of disruption in an engaging and provocative format."
—ELLIOT SOLOWAY, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, University of Michigan and co-founder of GoKnow, Inc.