Michael Feldstein is the editor of a forthcoming volume of the journal On the Horizon that focuses on distributed learning. I’ve got an article on NIXTY that will be coming out in that journal. He asked me to post an introductory discussion of the article on his popular blog, e-Literate. My post focuses on the benefits of harnessing Web 2.0 strengths in the CMS/LMS. I write quite a bit on the importance of OpenSocial, OpenID and OpenCourseWare. I’ve cut and pasted the bit on OpenID b/c it is a little known subject, but one that we think is pretty important. To read the full post go here.

Open ID and Web 2.0 Learning:

Open ID is another Web 2.0 strength that is important for open education. Open ID is sometimes referred to as Identity 2.0. The best metaphor for Open ID is that of a driver’s license. It acts as a person-centric identity that proves who you are to other people and institutions. For example, I use my license to buy alcohol (if carded), procure credit, and drive my car. Imagine if I had one license for the pub, another license for my banker, and yet another license for my car insurance company? That would be ridiculous, but that is exactly the situation we currently have on the Web. You have one ‘license’ or unique ID – your username and password – for your email, another for PayPal, and another for Amazon. For example, I’m a member of several sites (Gmail, Reddit, Hacker News, OLDaily). Each time I visit those sites I have to login with a unique username and password. If they were all Open ID compliant (OLDaily actually is – props to Stephen), then I could just use one sign-on to access them all. What we need is one ID, or license, that allows us to gain access to all of the different sites and services on the Web. In short, our ID has to move from being site-centric to being user-centric.

What does this have to do with online learning? It signals a trend and shift away from the institution and towards the individual learner. LMS companies require a unique identifier for their educators and students. This ID and your associated work (comments, posts, learning objects) function as long as you are a user in that LMS. That is, as long as the institution continues to buy ‘seats’ for you to exist. If they stop buying space for you, then you stop existing in that space. This isn’t good for the institution, the student that graduates, or the faculty person that moves on to another university. Instead, what’s needed is a platform that supports Open ID, provides plenty of space, and allows for transitions from one role to another. Open ID will provide a tangible way for individuals to take their identity with them no matter where they go.

There is a phenomenal new book out that brilliantly captures how the Web will reshape education in the next 6 years. Christensen, Horn, and Johnson outline how “computer-based learning” provides several advantages over learning in a physical classroom. These advantages include: increased curriculum (more AP classes, broader spectrum of courses), greater ability to tailor learning to the individual student, increased access for students (eg., rural areas, overseas), and dramatically decreased costs.

They define, “Disruptive innovations tend to be simpler and more affordable than existing products. This allows them to take root in simple, undemanding applications within a new market or arena of competition.” Another key component of a disruptive innovation is that it provides a product or service to people that currently do not have access to a product or service (eg., homeschoolers, lifelong learners).

These guys are no slouches. They are some of the brightest minds applying the innovation model to the educational sphere. Straight out of Harvard, they have provided significant innosight into how we can collaborate and solve the educational crisis we currently face.

You can read Terry Anderson’s summary here and an overview article here.

On a personal note, this book is particularly comforting to me because it captures much of what our team has been working on for the last year and a half. One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is that there isn’t much external validation pre-launch. This book provides a bit of encouragement that we are indeed on the right track.