I believe that my first experience of open learning came when I started university. Whilst there are specific topics I need to learn and write about, the process by which I find information and write is very much left up to me to decide. Furthermore, as I only had, on average, 13 hours a week in university, the emphasis was on independent learning. The university shares some resources on our online Moodle forum, however, this is not the only method I use to support my learning. I quite often use online communities to share and find resources. Some of these communities are on Twitter, another is the TES forum and finally, the Facebook group for my university year group can be helpful in sharing resources.
Participating in this Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century course has been the most extreme case of open learning I have encountered. I have enjoyed the process of creating a blog, and exploring different web tools that can support learning. However, one difficulty I have found from open learning is that, occasionally, I can struggle to find motivation to complete tasks. Whilst I am interested in the topics being raised, and enjoy the tasks when I get started, I sometimes find it difficult to prioritise the tasks compared to other courses I take. I believe this is due to the fact that the tasks are completely web-based and there is no tutor continually reminding me to complete tasks, it is a course that requires a lot of self motivation. However, the main aspect that enables me to complete the tasks is through speaking with fellow students. Discussing these key topics with my peers prompts debate,allowing me to see the importance of what we are learning and this in turn encourages me to try and be a more active participant. Therefore, I would argue that for open learning to be successful,there must first be strong networks created, whereby learners can support each other through the process.
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