OPEN LEARNING SYSTEMS: THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION

This paper provides a vision, an argument, and an explanation of "Open Learning Systems" (OLS) based on a blended conception of open epistemology, constructivism and connectionism that resonates with a form of social criticism in post-modern perspective harnessed by new technological affordances based on open systems. The paper examines open education in the context of the creative economy to highlight the relationship between open learning systems and the problem of the curriculum. Following Steven Webster and others, the paper suggests OLS as an expression of a philosophical idea of openness embodied in open source software, which constitutes a new political economy of the social organization of learning. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]