Two emerging developments afford opportunity to drastically alter the way people learn and acquire knowledge. The first is the availability of open education resources (OERs) that expand earlier models of discrete learning objects to the production and free dissemination of complete courses and programs. The second is the rapid emergence of a host of networked tools collectively known as social software. This paper overviews developments in both technologies and the social systems emerging to exploit these innovations for both formal and informal learning.

Keywords

dissemination · informal learning · higher education · Open Educational Resources · social software