Monday, 25 June 2012

More about Open Educational Systems

Let us explore Open Educational Systems by an analogy...the analogy between a chess game and open educational system.

The players are, "the system" and "the learner".  The game being played is akin to "the study". The board is "the context" of the study.  The pieces along with the rules form the elements of "the study".

In an Open Educational System the learner does not focus on a single subject.(It would amount to playing only with your knights or bishops!) Open Educational Systems look at "the study" in a holistic  way the study is not subject-specific, the learners study the subject in "relationship" rather than in "isolation".

Like "moves" make-up a chess game; "interactions" make-up a study. Open Systems are meant for multi-skill building (in the conventional sense). Each interaction is based on the "stage of the study" and the status of the players!

The information to be delivered is assembled Just-in-time (JIT) for that particular interaction.  This aspect of open systems helps customised and personalised content to be delivered as the learners interact with the system.

One of the many implications of JIT content production is, books, hand-outs, et cetera. can be printed at the school or by the learner when its is required and not earlier! This helps preparation of custom books and notes, checking of malpractices, implementation of standards and changing content centrally.

Each game is unique! each learner's study is unique.  The response to each learner by the system is distinct; hence, the system is learner-centric.  Since, the rules determine the game, Open Systems are capable of playing different games with different learners or the same game with different learners. The System and the learner can frame rules mutually rather than the system enforcing rules all the time!

The focus is on "the study" rather than conformance to "rules". Though the study occurs within the scope of the rules, the rules can be made flexible or rigid as the study progresses and these changes will be learner-specific rather than system-specific.

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