Jim Groom

“Open Source, Open Learning, Open Communities: Exploring Alternatives to Blackboard”

Presentation for the CUNY IT Conference at John Jay College in New York City on November 30th, 2007

This panel examined three uses of open-source tools for teaching and learning, beginning with Mikhail Gershovich’s discussion of Baruch’s cac.cophany, a blog that has allowed the Bernard Schwartz Institute to share its work with local and global audiences. Followed by Matt Gold sharing his experience teaching an online new-media studies course with a number of open-source applications for collaborative writing and research projects. Finally, I presented the blogging initiative at UMW which has brought an entire institution into conversation with itself and the world.

Co-presenters:
Mikhail Gershovich, Director, Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College
Matthew K. Gold, Faculty, New York City of Technology and the CUNY Online Baccalaureate

“Small Pieces Loosely Joined”: Open-Source Possibilities for Course Redesign
Co-presented with John More of Virginia Tech and Martha Burtis of the University of Mary Washington on November 9th, 2007 at the Learning by Design conference held in Richmond, VA.

This session explored how open-source applications can help shape and sustain vital communities of learning. We will discuss collaborative research/learning management systems such as Sakai and Moodle; blogging platforms such as WordPress; social networking applications such as Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter; web-hosting options both on- and offsite; and other innovative practices that center on emerging technologies. We will also consider Creative Commons licenses and implications for intellectual property.