Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open Educational Resources

Current advances and convergence trends in Web 2.0 have changed the way we communicate and collaborate, and as a result, user-controlled communities and user-generated content through Web 2.0 are expected to play an important role for collaborative learning. Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open Educational Resources offers a collection of the latest research, trends, future development, and case studies within the field. Without solid theoretical foundation and precise guidelines on how to use OER and Web 2.0 for collaborative learning, it would certainly be very difficult to obtain all the benefits that these "user-generated content, resources and tools" promise. The purpose of this handbook is to understand how OERs and Web 2.0 can be deployed successfully to enrich the collaborative learning experience and ensure a positive outcome in terms of user generated knowledge and development of skills.

Alexandra Okada is a Research Fellow at the Knowledge Media Institute of the Open University, UK. She is also a guest Lecturer at Getúlio Vargas Foundation FGV Online Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the University of the Arts London, UK. Her current research focuses on Content Development for Reuse and Adaptation Strategies in the ICOPER and OPENSCOUT projects. Both projects are a consortium of European Institutions whose aim is to provide mechanisms to ensure European-wide user cooperation to access a critical mass of integrated educational content. Her postdoctoral research in Knowledge Mapping focused on the uses of knowledge media technologies to foster open sense making communities in the OpenLearn project from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Okada holds a BSc in Computer Science, a MBA in Knowledge Management and Marketing and a MA and PhD in Education. Her publications comprise more than 50 papers in international conferences and academic journals, 20 book chapters and 5 books.

Teresa Connolly is a Project Officer in the Knowledge Institute of the Open University, UK. She has extensive professional experience in research and teaching in the areas of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Academic Practice, Educational Technology and Open Educational Resources (OER). Currently Teresa is working on the Responsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE) project funded by the European Community. Previously she worked as a Lecturer in OER on the OpenLearn project and has researched and developed a number of innovative OER study units related to psychology, project management, Welsh history and OpenLearn Scotland. Currently she is developing a visualisation of the global OER landscape in conjunction with the UNESCO chair in OER, Athabasca University, Canada.

Peter J. Scott is the Director of the Knowledge Media Institute of the Open University (KMI). KMI is a 70-strong Research and Development Unit on the OU campus in Milton Keynes, which explores the future of learning and the boundaries between knowledge and the media we use to work with it. Peter's own research group in the institute, the Centre for New Media, has 15 of these folk and prototypes the application of new technologies and media to learning at all levels. Peter's current research interests range widely across knowledge and media research. Three key threads at the moment are: telepresence; streaming media systems; and ubiquity. In June 2008 he coordinated the launch of The Open University into the Apple iTunes U. portal, which is currently at 27 Million downloads (October 2010). He has a BA (1983) and PhD (1987) in Psychology. Before joining the Open University in 1995, Dr Scott lectured in Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Sheffield. He has a textbook in each of these subjects, with a large range of associated teaching multimedia support applications. He is the coordinator and scientific director of STELLAR, the EU's 7th Framework Network of Excellence in Technology Enhanced Learning.