Having been to numerous technology conferences in my career, there are but a small number that I would attend even if I had to pay. One of them is the Southern California Linux Expo, every winter/spring in the LA area. The other is the Open Source Summit (fka “LinuxCon”) produced by the fine folks at the Linux Foundation, held this year in the lovely city of Vancouver, British Columbia, from August 29 – 31. Open Source Summit is where technologists, developers and open source literate people convene to talk about the latest open source technologies and how it’s being used.
I’m happy to announce that for the first time, the Open edX community is sponsoring the Open Source Summit North America and will be in attendance. You may wonder why Open edX, which has been firmly ensconced in the world of academic institutions of higher education, would sponsor an enterprise software event. It’s quite simple – as the community grows and evolves, we’re noticing lots of cross-pollination with enterprises looking to develop their own training platforms, whether for employees, customers, business partners, or all of the above. As online learning has grown, so too has the definition of what it means to learn or educate. Learning takes place everywhere, not just in traditional educational institutions. Open edX has helped make that a reality, and now these new learners and educators are pulling the Open edX into all sorts of exciting new directions.
We look forward to broadening the Open edX community’s perspective and learning from those with a strong desire to push the boundaries of collaborative learning. it’s what will make our community even stronger, dynamic, and yes, innovative.
If you’re going to Vancouver, we hope to see you there. And if you’ve been thinking about it, we highly recommend attending – you won’t be disappointed.
