Now, many authors even in post-secondary institutions are using tools such as Wikipedia in their research. The stigma of such tools being less authoritative is washing away as more users are embracing digital citizenship and making intelligent and responsible contributions.

 

With the gate-keepers of information becoming obsolete, it is no wonder that free, high-quality online learning materials are becoming more accessible for both online educators and students.

 

Everyone is aware of the informal learning opportunities available online. If you would like to learn how to play the guitar or learn about day-trading stocks, there are countless videos available for free. Thankfully, more formal modules of information are becoming accessible as well. In the past, schools had to pay their developers significant amounts of money or contract teachers out to develop online materials. This created territorial concerns where copyright became an issue when other schools requested viewing or sharing privileges.

 

With the advent of open source materials, time can be spent contributing to the pool of resources rather than building a firewall around your content. Collaboration in an open environment can create rich online resources that benefit everyone and may help us rise to higher order thinking. Rather than reproducing similar content in our online schools, we can be adding to and enriching shared bodies of material. Check out these open source providers below:

 

 

Do you have a favorite open source website to share?