This activity involves an initial exploration of open course technologies and resources with a goal of creating a collective, bigger picture of the open technology landscape. To get started, explore these open course offerings hosted on the following platforms, interpreting what you can about the contrasting approaches to learning design:

• Open2Study
• Cousera
• OpenLearn

Responding to the proliferation of platforms and tools (whether open, free or commercial), some individuals have curated one-stop directories to assist others to evaluate and choose toolsets, such as consultant Jane Hart's directory of discussion forum tools. Can you suggest further curated directories to share with your course colleagues? If so, share in a message in our Wiggio group or WENotes, briefly describing the curated collection of open platforms and/or tools.

Connecting technologies with potential learners’ digital literacy, also visit at least one example of the technology requirements for an open course. In this micro course by contrast, tools such as personal blogs and Twitter can be integrated via the course reader (WENotes) if learners choose to use them, but we have tried to limit the number of prescribed tools in order to also support a common workspace.

In preparation for Task 1: Curation and peer feedback, visit some of the key open educational resources (OER) repositories and portals via Finding OERs in the JISC Open Educational Resources InfoKit.

Focusing on OER and Creative Commons licensing, work through the Creative Commons Licensing tutorial within which you can test your understanding of the range of licensing terms and use the Creative Commons website to generate different licenses.