Realization #3: Open Source Classroom

The project follows the Open Source philosophy in many ways. The instructors function as the team leaders, and one might say the product of the class is the large body of text produced in our classroom space by the end of the term. Among the student discussions, a kind of gift culture emerges because the students who post more often and who posit interesting questions/responses draw more responses and receive interesting discussion in return.

Indeed, we've learned that when the teaching team follows the flow of student interest (and exchange) on the Blackboard forums, prodding and nudging them toward critical connections with cultural issues, students become more engaged and active. This part of the course functions much like an Open Source project must. A team leader who follows her own desires without the consent of her developers might very well find herself working alone. The members of the Sharing Cultures Project Teaching Team recognize how much we all have to learn from each other and are now looking to allow the form of the project – as Open Source – to clearly reflect our cooperative and collaborative beliefs regarding learning, knowledge production, and technology.