The World is Open

The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education (2009), by Curtis J. Bonk, is an enlightening journey into the world of Web 2.0 resources and the future (and present) of global educational opportunities. The book follows in the footsteps of Thomas L. Friedman's The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century (2005). Bonk carries Friedman's thought into the realm of education, with the idea of an open world arising from the widespread and uninhibited accessibility of educational opportunities and resources. For Bonk, the world's openness means "anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime" (p. 13). The journey begins with e-books and ends with networks of personalized learning. The reader is treated to an amazing variety of openers that have helped to make the world of today a different educational environment than it was even 10 or 20 years ago. These openers are tools, resources, conceptual frameworks, and environments that conjoin to create a more open world. Bonk' s 10 major openers include e-learning and blended learning, open source and free software, leveraged resources and open courseware, learning object repositories and portals, open information communities, electronic collaboration, alternate reality, and real-time mobility and portability. Bonk uses anecdotal stories to convince the reader of the power of the 10 openers. This reader needed no convincing. Bonk' s optimistic tone and sure grasp of the myriad of tools and resources available in the world of e-learning today were too far compelling to resist. On one hand, this book was difficult to read. Pages were so full of resources, I could not help but look up and explore each resource mentioned. The spirit of discovery in the book slowed my progress. On the other hand, the book was an easy read. Every few pages, Bonk described a new resource with the potential to change the educational landscape of tomorrow. This book is full of the excitement that surrounds Web 2.0 and new media technologies. Bonk is careful to avoid being bogged down in the details of each technology, and leaves it in the reader's hands to experiment with each tool and resource. He only includes scholarly material when necessary to drive home a point, making The world is open a popular and vividly enchanting