The What
Carnegie Mellon describes an open source course as giving students the availability to learn in a course style for free online. Student have the ability to participate in courses and learn content during their leisure time. http://oli.cmu.edu/
The Who
Harvard University is participating in the open source course realm. They offer a variety of instructor-led videos that cover various topics. The site to access the courses is user-friendly allowing for users to click a link and gain access to the courses available. Many of the courses are available free of registration. This type of learning environment is great for those that want to "brush up" on certain topics without having to pay for an extensive education. There are many other universities that are participating in this type of educational offering as well.
The How
As far as distance education is concerned, these courses are fit into distance education spectrum. They are offered in an online environment where the learner and instructor are physically separated. This type of offering is beneficial for students because it allows them to take advantage of educational courses without having to come out of pocket. The benefits of open source software on the development side rage from lower cost, public collaboration, and no license fees.
References:
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative
http://webdevstudios.com/support/faq/why-use-open-source-software/
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