Open-ended Learning Environments

 Each open-ended learning environment listed below have multiple smaller projects that address different aspects of teaching, learning and facilitation.

Open-ended learning environments are distinctive in their ability to foster learning through exploration. The problems presented in these environments are also called as ill-defined problems (Jonassen, 1997), where the problem definitions lack clear goals, are characterized by ambiguity, complexity, and the need for judgment and creativity in problem-solving. Unlike well-defined problems, which have specific goals and clear steps to reach a solution, ill-defined problems require learners to interpret, structure, and often redefine the problem themselves. This open-ended nature offers learners access to an expansive solution space, where each problem may have multiple solutions, each solution can employ various strategies, and each strategy can consist of numerous combinations of actions. In many cases, the solutions crafted by the learners cannot be categorized as strictly "correct" or "incorrect," but rather as relatively "better" or "worse" when compared to others. These properties requires that the learners (1) manage their explorations by identifying what has been and what has not been explores yet (meta-cognitive processes), (2) compare different strategies and actions to understand how their explorations fare (cognitive processes) and (3) retain the facts and actions, while engaged in sub-tasks as part of problem solving (non-cognitive processes).

My work has contributed to the design and development of computational tools and technology that aid collaborative open-ended learning processes. These environments are listed below.

New Projects

Other Open-ended learning environments