International Conference and Exhibition on Learning Technologies

NEW MEDIA, OPEN LEARNING AND PUBLISHING

Introduction

Sponsors:

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLISHING: FAILURE OF THE OLD LOGIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW ENVIRONMENT FOR PUBLISHING NEW DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT: THE LONGTAIL The digital environment is characterized by: (a)The democratization of tools of production, (anyone can make content); (b)Democratization of distribution which has led to cut in the cost of production (c)Connecting supply and demand (through search engines, blogs, recommendations lists, etc).( Anderson’s (2006)

NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLISHERS AND END USERS

ALTERED CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC PARADIGM The technology and the prevailing global environment have completely altered the cultural and economic paradigms. Students are besieged by various media which distract them and make traditional modes of teaching and learning boring. Standards are no longer locally defined as the global environment has created new standards of learning and competition. In the new global and technology environment, there are new imperatives for cultural identity to the extent that any educational system must redefine the basis from local cultural content and identity.

NEW LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND PARADIGMS There is the concept of divergent thinking which underscores creativity although not synonymous with it. Divergent thinking is not just linear thinking but incorporates lateral and opposite thinking. It is the type of thinking that allows one to see many possible ways of doing things and multiple answers to a problem. This underlies creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity. Conventional system of education encourages one way of solving a problem, discourages multiple answers, and discourages collaborative work notwithstanding that great learning takes groups. The concept and practice of standardized curriculum and testing and a one-fits-all content is antithetical to the realities of divergent capacities and experience which creative education seeks to correct.

ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING AND DEMOCRATIZATION OF PARTICIPATION “An electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a computer or a specially designed handheld device”. “A book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices”. Numerous advantages have been ascribed to eBooks. Some of these are: portability, they take up less space, they are convenient and can be read anywhere, contain hyperlinks, information is searchable unlike in books where you have to turn pages, they can be interactive-containing videos and animations, no packing and shipping expenses, fonts can be resized, easy to sell and redistribute, easy to purchase and redistribute.

CONCLUSION OPEN LEARNING Open learning refers to the absence of constraint in the learning process. Such constraints may be administrative (time, space, duration, etc.), and educational (objectives, methods, sequencing, entry qualification, assessments, etc.) (Richard L. Book and Vivian E. Hodgion 1987:5). Open learning is any form of learning in which the provider enables individual learners to exercise choice over one or more aspects of the learning processes. For instance, students have a say in how they are evaluated and when they are evaluated among other things. Under the old logic, the teacher/author had a monopoly of content while publishers controlled the economics. It was a market of multitude which has now given way to the logic of the longtail-a market of niches. Size, distance, storage and cost have been eliminated as constraints to intellectual production

 New concept of the publisher  New types of authors  Content can come from anyone and anywhere  Diverse technologies that support individual preferences and learning styles  Technology to track learners behaviour

International Conference and Exhibition on Learning Technologies