UCI co-hosting Calit2 symposium on open learning

Leaders in technology and education will convene Sept. 26 and 27 at the California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology on the UC Irvine campus for a symposium on open learning systems and the future of higher education. The “Reclaim Open Learning” event is a collaboration between UC Irvine’s Digital Media & Learning Research Hub and the MIT Media Lab, with support from the MacArthur Foundation. It will tackle topics in higher education such as the popularity of MOOCs (massive open online courses) and the proliferation of open courseware companies. Panelists will discuss new approaches to online learning in an effort to speak to a broader controversy about the need to transform higher education in the 21st century. The symposium is an extension of the “Reclaim Open Learning” innovation contest conducted earlier this summer by the Digital Media & Learning Research Hub and the MIT Media Lab. The contest winners, whose work demonstrates use of open access technologies and business models, received $2,000 stipends to continue developing their projects, which they’ll present at the symposium. A live webcast of the event will be available at http://dmlhub.net/reclaim-open-learning-symposium.