The philosophy of open education and the principles upon which it is founded is progressively impacting the design of both online and face-to-face higher education courses. As the Internet and other technologies enable more ubiquitous social networking and connectivity, new design experiments involving unique assignments, research contexts, collaborative works, and opportunity for connections with others of similar interests come into practice. Education is currently in an experimental state as new learning theories, instructional designs, digital tools, literacy practices, course types, and technologies enable educators to connect, collaborate, and accomplish more than ever before and in ways that have never before been possible. The affordances provided by social media and digital technologies are incredibly powerful, however these technologies also have limitations and costs that must be considered. The presentation outlines some general types of open course designs, addresses some of the benefits and limitations of connected open courses and the tools used within these courses, and provides some starting points for those interested in learning more about open education. Additional resources can be found at http://integratedhuman.consulting/20th-annual-research-forum.