What is the ceiling? That's up to each individual teacher. But here's a look inside the tools and methods Preston, who currently teaches three Advanced Placement English and Composition courses, finds essential to his open source learning pursuit:

BLOGGING: Blogs are the centerpiece of student work in Preston's classroom. Students not only publish most of their work here, but also use blogs to share feedback, collaborate for group assignments, and even hold chat discussions with authors or other subject experts.

VIDEO-CONFERENCING: Students use video both to visit with authors whose work they've read, and occasionally to offer insight to outsiders during conferences or interviews.

BIG QUESTIONS: In a twist on the traditional term paper, students tackle a research project in which they try to answer a self-chosen question that both interests them and crosses boundaries of the core secondary academic subjects. For example, this year, Beka Castillo asked, “Why do we, in our advanced society, use sex in such a demeaning and dehumanizing way to sell useless products?” Her classmate Ryan Nguyen asked, “What is the future of space travel?”



COLLABORATIVE WORKING GROUPS: Like-minded students convene around an interest or idea of their choosing, such as creative writing, fitness, graphic design, etc. Using their classes' blog community, they try to share the idea or interest with others for the purpose of boosting performance on the AP Literature and Composition exam.

SMART GOALS: In another twist on an old theme, students state their personal goals for the rest of the term. Those goals, and mapping and executing a path toward them, evolve into a senior project.

NEXT STEPS



In order to unite other teachers who have already found a similar path, Preston is now considering helping to launch a national organization devoted to open-source learning.

“There are literally thousands of teachers quietly pursuing similar agendas all over the place,” said Preston, now in his eighth year as a high school teacher, after spending two decades as a university professor and a learning and organizational development consultant. “Everyone needs a sense of community, and to feel like they're not doing this alone.”

Discussions with colleagues about the launch of an open-source learning foundation appear to be at a preliminary phase. But when it does launch, the organization would forward an approach that, at its core, is about students choosing their own learning path.

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The association's purpose, he says, would be “inviting people to the policymaking table that don't normally have a direct voice. And I'm not just talking about learners and tech-savvy teachers and administrators. I am also talking about neurologists, leaders in the Internet culture,” and people across other contemporary professions.

Those voices would echo the equally variable open source learning approach, which is not necessarily dependent on technology, despite the connotation of “open source” in the software and information industry.