# Open Courses and Informal Learning in a Web 2.0 World: A Research Agenda


I recently gave a keynote presentation at [ICETC 2011 in
Changchun](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/08/09/icetc-in-changchun-international-conferences-in-china/),
where I discussed some of the experiences from facilitating the course
"[Introduction to
CSCL](http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/introduction-to-the-field-of-computer-supported-co/content/full-description/)"
on P2PU, and pointed towards some ideas for technologies and ways of
organizing courses that could enable deeper learning in open courses.

**[Open Courses and Informal Learning in a Web 2.0 World: A Research
Agenda](http://www.slideshare.net/houshuang/open-courses-and-informal-learning-in-a-web-20-world-a-research-agenda "Open Courses and Informal Learning in a Web 2.0 World: A Research Agenda")**

View more [webinars](http://www.slideshare.net/) from [Stian
Håklev](http://www.slideshare.net/houshuang)

I started by noting how we live in a world with an abundance of
resources, and then mentioning some of the ways in which we can be
informal learners. We can use "site-specific information-centric
communities" such as StackOverflow to get quick answers to something,
while we are working on a problem (I absolutely agree with [David
Wiley](http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/1882) that this qualifies as
learning).

Much of my learning happens in what I call "long-term distributed
topic-based communities". This would be something like the
"edublogosphere", with people who discuss issues and share information
over a long time, held together through RSS feeds, crosslinking,
Twitter-hashtags, etc. However, as Mike Caulfield [pointed
out](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:PInY24gtNdsJ:mikecaulfield.com/2009/01/09/rise-of-the-cohort-educational-and-otherwise/+http://mikecaulfield.com/2009/01/09/rise-of-the-cohort-educational-and-otherwise/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com),
there is something very powerful about a cohort moving through a set
learning path or collection of materials together. Open courses, whether
they be small learning groups on [P2PU](http://p2pu.org), or big
[MOOCs](http://mooc.ca), is about offering more people the opportunity
to participate in such learning experiences.

I then discussed some of the issues that came up during our course, such
as the "[[analysis_of_cscl-intro\#amplification|dream of
amplification]]", [[analysis_of_cscl-intro\#challenge|the various
dimensions of open courses]],
[[analysis_of_cscl-intro\#how_this_played_out_in_our_course|the
dimensions of course organizer "authority"]] and
[[analysis_of_cscl-intro\#threaded_chat|our interesting experience
with "threaded chat"]].

Finally, I discussed ways in which the course data
[[analysis_of_cscl-intro\#analysis|could be analyzed]] and introduced
[[grappling_with_ideas-the_paper\#stimulus_response|two metaphors
for organizing online courses]]: stimulus/response and
divergence/convergence, and looked at how the latter model could be
implemented in an open course based on a multitude of Web 2.0 platforms.

This talk, together with the links above, represent a lot of my current
thinking and some of the research I would like to pursue. I would love
to receive feedback, pushback and ideas. (PS: The slides are
synchronized with a recording of my presentation - you won't get much
out of them if you just view the slides by themselves).

Stian