Introduction to the NetGeners.Net pilot course. The full title of this pilot course is “NetGeners.Net: The ne(x)t generation learner - Skills you need in lifelong learning knowledge and information societies”. A pilot course in the light of free and open education! This course is free: free to attend without any charge, free of cost for books or other materials, free for anyone independently of prior education; and free in terms of your personal time commitment that you decide to dedicate to it (Though we would like you to spend on a minimum 2 hours per week). The only thing you will need is a PC and internet access. Participants of this course can expect tutoring (support), but will not receive any official degree awarding certificate or credit points from the course team. This course starts at the 17th of March, though later participation is possible. If you are interested in the course than sign up now for free to secure individual mentorship and support! We also invite you to provide us with some initial feedback on what you think could be improved, to report bugs (means to tell us what still doesn’t work as it should), to suggest further learning projects, or to submit already existing ones to our course category. Further information is available at: NetGeners.Net website

1. The ne(x)t generation learner -
Skills you need in lifelong learning
knowledge and information societies
Introduction
to the Free and Open
NetGeners.Net Course
v.080204

2. Rationale
I think we're --in a lot of ways --in a period
of the most profound reinvention of ...education
and how people need to learn
since the invention of literacy.
Tim O'Reilly

3. Rationale
What does the future expect from us?
●
Ability of being self-taught & self-learning
●
Having a mental model of how the world works to let you figure
out what's important
●
A new quot;digital dividequot; between those who know how to think
about search and those who don't; those who know where the
current hot information is being shared, and those who don't
●
The importance of quot;doing things,quot; quot;tinkering,quot;, and quot;exploratory
learningquot;
●
That quot;engagementquot; is not new to Web 2.0, but the opportunity is
being democratized by the technology
Source: Tim O'Reilly, May 2007

4. Rationale
What can we expect from the future?
●
10 to 14 different jobs by the age of 38
●
Half of what you learned at year 1 will be out of date by year 3
of study (based on a 4 years' university study)
●
The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004
●
Prepare yourself for jobs that not even exist yet, demand the use
of technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve
problems that you don't know are problems yet
●
Universities and formal education at large struggles to adapt to
those new environments and demands, with lessons still being
largely given like 100 (3000?) years ago
Source points 1 to 4 : Karl Fisch – “Did you know”

5. Rationale
What does this mean for you?
That YOU NEED TO KNOW how to take advantage of the web for
YOUR PERSONAL LEARNING NEEDS to have a COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE at today's JOB MARKET.
➔
Do you know how and where to get those skills?
➔
Do you know what the web has to offer you to support your
learning needs?

6. The Past
Learning as a finished and delivered product to be
consumed

7. The Future
Learning as an active creation process
in disperse environments

8. Today
Successful learning environments at the web
Source: Toru Liyoshi etal., OpenLearn conference 2007

9. Today
How do they look like?

10. Education Tomorrow
What do they show us?
Looking at informal virtual learning environments, like Free /
Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities, shows that:
●
Content is not something static but dynamic
●
Learning resources are manifold
●
Users are also active creators
●
Support and learning resources are closely connected
●
Open and transparent structures foster re-use and discourse,
but also continuous improvement and evolutionary growth
●
Existence of a wide range of possible activities to engage at
around the core product
●
Self-studying and learning from what others did are pre-
dominant forms of learning, plus gaining soft skills “on the fly”

11. Education Tomorrow
What do they show us? (continued)
Source: Toru Liyoshi etal., OpenLearn conference 2007

12. Education Tomorrow
How could this look for education?
Source: Toru Liyoshi etal., OpenLearn conference 2007

13. Education Tomorrow
How could this look for education? (continued)
Source: Toru Liyoshi etal., OpenLearn conference 2007

14. Education Tomorrow
What does this type of learning environment provides?
● A greater range of inputs – not just from the educator, but from all contributors
so the collective is the source of knowledge, not one individual
●A more personalized learning experience – instead of learning objectives that
apply to a whole cohort, this approach allows learners to gather the elements of
knowledge they require.
●Greater sharing of knowledge – in (higher) education much of the previous
input is lost, whereas here the dialogue, resources, and outputs remain as
learning resources.
●Peer production – active engagement in producing something with a set of
peers is a powerful motivational and educational driving force.
●Real activities – engaging in legitimate activities that are not restricted to an
artificial educational setting also provides valuable experience.
●Peer support – a large support network provided voluntarily by peers in a
collaborative manner nearly 24/7.
●Open learning environment – The sum is bigger than its parts, thus there is the
need of providing new educational models and scenarios that are not limited to
students formally enrolled at a course.

15. The NetGeners.Net Course
The ne(x)t generation learner - Skills you need in lifelong
learning knowledge and information societies
✔NetGeners.Net is a pilot course in the light of free and open education!
✔This course is free:
✔free to attend without any charge,
✔free of cost for books or other materials,
✔free for anyone independently of prior education; and
✔free in terms of your personal time commitment that you decide to
dedicate to it (Though we would like you to spend on a minimum 2
hours per week). The only thing you will need is a PC and internet
access.
✔Participants of this course can expect tutoring (support), but will not
receive any official degree awarding certificate or credit points from the
course team.

16. The NetGeners.Net Course
What you can expect during the course?
●Create your own course learning projects or to join into the learning
projects of others
●Learn from reviewing and studying the learning project activities,
outcomes and presentations of the other course's learning projects
●This course does not expect you to solely study pre-outlined course
materials, instead the course is envisioned as a collaborative learning
experience
●Gain exposure to the various conceptual issues through collaboration with
each other
●Think of this course as a seed, rather than a finished product

17. The NetGeners.Net Course
For whom is this course?
The target groups of this course are:
●Students in formal education on a individual base
●Free learner outside of formal education on a individual base
●Educators (Teachers) that like to participate with their students at
this course and might want to feed parts of it into their own courses
(and vice versa)
There is no minimum age limit, nor any minimum prior educational
requirements.

18. The NetGeners.Net Course
Activities and tasks:
● Engage in personally meaningful activities by working in one or more learning
projects within your area of interest to create solutions to problems
●Establish (or join) project teams and team roles, including work assignments and
roadmaps
●Search for and engage with available online content and communities
●Re-experience how others learn at the web
●Create materials yourself and share your project results with others and reflect
on them
●Integrate your contributions into the NetGener.Net course so future learner would
be able to build on them
●Use a broad range of collaborative technologies
●Present your project results, learn from the presentation of others and discuss
those results
You will be asked to take on an ACTIVE role that will include try and error
attempts, experimenting and taking a risk of not completing a learning project
100% as you might have liked.

19. The NetGeners.Net Course
The NetGeners.Net Course site

20. The NetGeners.Net Course
NetGeners.Net Course site (continued)

21. The NetGeners.Net Course
NetGeners.Net Spaces & Tools
Just to show some
of the possible spaces
& tools to be used:

22. The NetGeners.Net Course

23. Thank you!!!
Find out more & participate!
Visit us at: www.netgeners.net
Contact:
A.Meiszner@open.ac.uk