User:Yvessimon1/Open Popular University

Open Popular University is an educational site founded by Yves Simon, an educator interested in web technologies and informal tools for education. It models the use of web 2.0 tools for open and emergent learning.

Introduction
Universite Populaire Ouverte/Open Popular University is created on the basis of the following concepts: informal education, popular education, alternative education, open educational resources, open courseware, open access, universite populaire, elearning, autodidactism, connectivism, networked learning and social learning. Education is given in two settings: formal and informal. In formal settings learning takes place in a physical building called school or online and by correspondence. However this situation doesn't always happen. The social environments such as the family, the community, the media are also sources of education called informal education. Subjects taught in the formal educational sector have been taught informally in homeschool, tutoring and learning centers and other settings. Learning can also take place by oneself (self-learning) or in groups outside of schools. The advent of the world wide web makes the informal learning easier. Different informations and educational resources can be accessed easily through the internet. In our days many of the leading institutions put their courses accessible freely on the web. Different media such as books, videos, etc can be accessed freely through the internet. New concepts such as Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Courseware are very popular and many people use these resources to learn informally for their personal enrichment or to satisfy academic requirements. Open educational resources are widely used in formal and informal education. Some universities give credits for learning acquired informally. Many web tools such as bookmarks, videos, podcasts, instant messages, blogs, wikis, discussion groups,forums, etc emerge as networks that can be used as personal learning networks. These tools make the web 2.0 to which succeeds learning 2.0.

Mission
Learning is a natural need of humans. It is a process that helps to survival. Unfortunately for the vast majority of people the acquisition of learning materials is a luxury and the access to higher education is very limited due to high educational costs. Thousands of educational materials in the form of courses, books, articles, journals,videos, podcasts, etc, are freely available through the internet thanks to many universities and Open Educational Resources (OER) organizations throughout the world. There is an existing need of developing, organizing, translating these materials and creating new ones. The use of these materials especially the courses is multiple. Professors and instructors can use them to develop the courses they teach. Students studying in brick and mortar and online universities can use them to review or supplement their own materials. Former graduate students and professionals can use these materials for review. Self-learners can use them for their own benefit. Open degrees are used by many professionals to satisfy their personal and professional needs. An experiment is being held for an open and networked PhD. Educators design a common framework at Peer-to-Peer University and their own learning plan to meet the requirements of that framework. Open Popular University dedicated a section of its programs to Open degrees. Learners can always design their own degree study program using educational resources and web 2.0 technologies and non-traditional crdentials.

The mission of the Open Popular University/Universite Populaire is to help people who want to learn by themselves by providing them resources and tools for that matter. Open Popular University wants to encourage everybody to consider himself as the center of the learning process. It advocates for self-learning, lifelong learning, the use of web and electronic resources, physical and human resources for learning. Physical resources and human resources are books, libraries, conversations and groups. Electronic resources include radio, television, computers and mobile telecommunications devices. Open Popular University is not limited to a geographical location but considers itself as a reference for universal learning. The only requirements to participate to the movement of Open Popular University are to be able to read, write and have a certain level of computer literacy. Based on this philosophy Open Popular University addresses itself to anybody eager to learn. Its materials are for any one eager to learn including students, professionals, educators, self-learners and lifelong learners. The resources of Open Popular University will not be limited to the higher education level. They will embrace all levels of the formal education and the informal education. Open Popular University is not a center of learning considering the traditional role of the educational learning centers but an educational movement for the emancipation of the humankind. Open Popular University will reserve a place for Haitian students whose access to educational materials is very limited. Academic courses at Open Popular University are organized according to the curriculum of renowned universities and students can study using the materials by themselves or in study groups. These groups can be human or virtual. One of the virtual groups is the Open Study group.

Web address and Social Media
Web address: www.openpu.wikidot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/OpenPopularUniversity

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenPUniversity

Google+: https://plus.google.com/118127068862484514921/about

Contact
Open Popular University is open to collaboration at different levels: Management, web management, Content development, public relations, social media marketing. Contact Yves Simon at y[dot]ssimon[at]yahoo[dot]com