Want to help further research in the field of open education? Then, respond to this short survey from MIT OpenCourseWare! We received the survey via email from MIT OCW, which read:

A message from Dr. Curtis Bonk:
“My research team and I from the Instructional Systems Technology Department at Indiana University are conducting a study titled, “Collecting Stories of Extreme or Informal Learning.” This study explores how people learn (and teach) with technology in unique and nontraditional ways. One strand of this research is on the use of open educational resources, OCW, and popular learning portals like MIT OpenCourseWare and the MIT OpenCourseWare Highlights for High School. My team believes that users of the MIT OpenCourseWare Website as well as the MIT OpenCourseWare Highlights for High School are ideal participants for this study and invite them to take our survey.

Across this research, we hope to find out more about how online technology can motivate someone to learn outside of traditional educational settings. Participation will mainly entail responding to a set of online survey questions. A few of the survey respondents will be asked to participate in follow-up online interviews and focus group discussions. Our goal is to collect stories of how informal and extreme forms of online learning significantly impact or changes someone’s life. Such stories might offer inspiration to other people. Your Web resources and programs have been highly successful in facilitating learning for a large number of people. We are fairly certain that some of these individuals have unique stories and learning experiences to share.

The survey link is below. Individuals must be at least 13 years old to participate.

The Extreme and Informal Learning Survey – MIT OpenCourseWare and Open Educational Resources:http://www.surveyshare.com/s/AQAM4CC

After clicking on the above link and agreeing to our informed consent form, participants will complete 26 survey questions. Next, they will be asked if they want to answer a series of open-ended items. If they answer “no,” the system will take them to the end of the survey for a few final quick questions.”