A conceptual model for Open Learning Environments

Over the last years, the growing ubiquity of Social Media, the emerging mobile technologies and the augmented reality become more deeply integrated into the teaching learning process and also create new opportunities for reinventing the way in which educational actors both perceive and access learning. Major challenges in academia that involve tremendous development and innovation are blended courses/flipped classrooms integrating Social Media (SM), Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). After an analysis of the emerging technologies, trends and theories in education, the paper proposes a conceptual model for Open Learning Environments, with characteristics divided in three categories: pedagogical, social and technological. Also it presents an original classification of the existent learning environments which integrate open technologies and practices.