Open education

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Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. [1] Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems [2] and is typically (but not necessarily) offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.

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An example of an institutional practice in line with open education would be decreasing barriers to entry, for example, eliminating academic admission requirements. Universities which follow such practices include the Open University in Britain, Athabasca University and Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning in Canada and the Open University of Catalonia, in Spain, among many others (see full list here). Massive open online courses (MOOC) and OpenCourseWare are among the most recent and visible approaches to open education, adopted by universities worldwide. Although many MOOC's have free enrolment, the costs of acquiring a certification may be a barrier. Many open education institutes offer free certification schemes accredited by organizations like UKAS in the UK and ANAB in the United States; others offer a badge.

Open education and flexible learning Open education and flexible learning - Graphic illustration.jpg
Open education and flexible learning

Origins of open education

Open education is part of a broader openness movement. It has origins, particularly in higher education, to the 17th century in the thinking of John Amos Comenius, who proposed open access to education as a core goal. [1] Some authors have noted scholarly discussion of open education originating in the progressive pedagogy movements of early childhood education, related to the openness of teaching methods and the promotion of learner autonomy within and outside the classroom. Returning to openness in higher education, the postwar era of the 1960s and 1970s faced a "world-wide crisis in education" [3] as education systems responded slowly to the demand for higher education in an era of scientific and economic prosperity requiring new models to meet the needs of a much larger and diversified group of lifelong learners. [1] These conditions led to the establishment of open and distance education systems globally, which itself developed many innovative and progressive ideas of how to meet the educational needs of large and diverse learner populations. The establishment of open education today as a growing part of mainstream education, particularly in higher education, is directly linked to the development of open education universities beginning in the 1970s. [1]

The interconnectedness of open education and scientific and economic progress is no coincidence. Openness in education is connected to the changing needs of societies, cultures, and economies, and in particular to the rapid evolution of digital and networked technologies. Technology, pedagogy, and related socioeconomic developments have a symbiotic relationship with open and distance education, including in the intellectual and theoretical foundations which define its practice. [4] [5]

The most recent emergence of open education is related to the ability to share resources on the web at little cost compared to the distribution of copy righted material common within higher education. Early examples of this are the OpenCourseWare program, established in 2002 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which was followed by more than 200 universities and organisations, and Connexions, established at Rice University in 1999, which transformed into OpenStax. Similar to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities from the Open Access movement, are the goals and intentions from open education specified in the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. MOOC is a more recent form of online course based on principles of openness which has gotten increasing attention since the early 2010's, exemplified by online platforms such edX, Coursera and Udacity.

Common features of open education

Open education is often considered an unequivocal good, part of a larger movement of openness in society (i.e. open knowledge, open government, open access, open data, open source, and open culture). However, critical approaches to open education have also been developed which underline differing perspectives and the need for a nuanced examination of the contexts of openness, a focus on issues of participation, power and social justice, a move beyond the binaries of open and closed as well as examining relationships between formal, non-formal and informal forms of open education and the relationships between teachers and learners. [6] [7] [8] Openness in education is considered both a comprehensible and a contested term with multiple layers and dimensions. It can be characterised as an adaptive, flexible, and evolving concept. [9] [5] Advocates of openness in education argue that to fully realise the benefits of open education, there is a need to focus on open educational practices (OEP). [10] By using OEP, open educators recognise the ubiquity of knowledge across networks and orchestrate learning that aims to promote learner agency, empowerment, and global civic participation. [8] Likewise, there are other parallel movements in education which support openness, included networked learning, connected learning, and social technologies, among others. [10]

Common features of open education in practice attempt to build opportunities for learners to: [8]

Theoretical foundations of open education

Open education and flexible learning Open education and flexible learning.svg
Open education and flexible learning

Open education is motivated by a belief that learners want to exercise agency in their studies, particularly from a lifelong learning perspective. Throughout its history, open education has been associated with multiple meanings: access, flexibility, equity, collaboration, agency, democratisation, social justice, transparency, and removing barriers. [10] Researchers and practitioners in the field of open education have adopted generic educational theories such as social constructivism, behaviourism, and cognitivism, [11] and then generated their own theoretical foundations following the emergence of open universities [12] and the emergence of powerful and sophisticated digital technologies, such as networked learning or connectivism. Open education has also been influenced by the philosophy of openness, [10] characterised by an emphasis on transparency and collaboration. [13] Initial conceptualisations of open education were characterised by independent study, where learners are independent of time and space through asynchronous learning, but also independent in developing their own learning strategies and practices, focused on personalised learning and learner autonomy and agency.

More recently, theories which support open education have developed in line with the rapid evolution of networked digital technologies and the sophistication of social software. The community of inquiry (CoI) model proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) [14] was developed to provide conceptual order and act as a heuristic tool for the use of computer-mediated communication in support of educational experiences, particularly relevant for online and open education. The CoI model argues that a meaningful online learning experience is created through a combination of and interaction between cognitive, social, and teaching presence. [10] [14]

A range of other theories and conceptual frameworks relate to open education, including connectivism which adopts a non-linear approach to learning, influenced by complexity theory, where communities of knowledge are formed through connections forged in a networked learning environment. [15] Connectivism relates to openness through its emphasis on learner autonomy and agency and its use of OER. The study of self-determined learning, known as heutagogy also relates to open education, founded on the principles of self-efficacy and capability, meta-cognition and reflection, and non-linear learning. Self determined learning is often viewed as part of a continuum experience between pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, reflecting a shift from teacher-centred to learner-determined environments and activities. [16] A learning ecologies framework supports open education through both a lifelong and lifewide learning perspective, which is learning in different places simultaneously across the multiple contexts one inhabits. [17] A learning ecologies approach rests on the possibilities of new technologies in facilitating self-sustaining, interest-driven and boundary crossing learning, interrelated with the openness in education movement. A rhizomatic learning approach can also underlie forms of open education, characterised as an organic process where the curriculum is connected to the community and the learner navigates diversely connected learning environments by making links, negotiating the learning process, and adapting to change. [18] [19] In the most recent theoretical foundations of open education, including connectivism, heutagogy, and rhizomatic learning, openness arises from the learner-centred and non-linear design of learning contexts and resources and the promotion of learner agency and autonomy. [10]

Technology utilized

Available technologies for open education are important in the overall efficiency of the program. They promote an absolute openness in the dissemination of education, eliminating barriers including, but not limited to, cost and access to free and relevant resources. [20] After available technologies have been found, there need to be appropriate applications on the technologies for the specific online education program.

Since open education usually occurs at a different time and different place for most individuals across the world, certain technologies need to be utilized to enhance the program. These technologies are primarily online and serve a variety of purposes. Websites and other computer-based training may be used to provide lecture notes, assessments, and other course materials. Videos are provided and feature speakers, class events, topic discussions, and faculty interviews. YouTube and iTunesU are often used for this purpose. Students may interact through computer conferencing with Skype, e-mail, online study groups, or annotations on social bookmarking sites. Other course content may be provided through tapes, print, and CDs.

Governments, institutions, and people realize the importance of education. Human knowledge is crucial to producing competent leaders, innovators, and teachers. Educational systems must provide each individual the chance in building a better life. Technology has made the expansion of educational opportunities easier. [21] Through the Internet, students can easily find information practically on any topic while mentors are capable of sharing their expertise with any student within seconds. Educational materials are disseminated to a global audience without additional costs. Evolving technology makes it possible for learners to interact with the global community in the comfort of their homes. Under distance learning, universities and colleges expand their impact through online courses that people in any country can take. [22]

Open education includes resources such as practices and tools that are not hampered by financial, technical, and legal impediments. These resources are used and shared easily within the digital settings. Technology revolutionized techniques in sending receiving information on a daily basis particularly in education. Availability of web resources has transformed everything. [23] Open education is founded on Open Educational Resources (OER) comprised or learning, teaching, and research sources. [24] With Open Education, the costs of textbooks which surged over three times the rate of inflation for many years must not hinder education. Based on the NBC News review of the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics data, prices of student books increased three times inflation rates from January 1977 until June 2015 reflecting an increase of 1,041 percent. [25] [26]

OER can possibly address this problem since materials are free online and economical in printed form. Resources intended for buying textbooks can be rechanneled towards technology, enhancing the medium of instructions, and lowering debt. [27] Research studies also showed many students learn more because of their access to quality materials. Technology also has unlimited potentials in raising teaching and learning to a higher level. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the school via mail. Distance education is a technology-mediated modality and has evolved with the evolution of technologies such as video conferencing, TV, and the Internet. Today, it usually involves online education and the learning is usually mediated by some form of technology. A distance learning program can either be completely a remote learning, or a combination of both online learning and traditional offline classroom instruction. Other modalities include distance learning with complementary virtual environment or teaching in virtual environment (e-learning).

A learning object is "a collection of content items, practice items, and assessment items that are combined based on a single learning objective". The term is credited to Wayne Hodgins, and dates from a working group in 1994 bearing the name. The concept encompassed by 'Learning Objects' is known by numerous other terms, including: content objects, chunks, educational objects, information objects, intelligent objects, knowledge bits, knowledge objects, learning components, media objects, reusable curriculum components, nuggets, reusable information objects, reusable learning objects, testable reusable units of cognition, training components, and units of learning.

Autodidacticism or self-education is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters.

M-learning, or mobile learning, is a form of distance education or technology enhanced active learning where learners use portable devices such as mobile phones to learn anywhere and anytime. The portability that mobile devices provide allows for learning anywhere, hence the term "mobile" in "mobile learning." M-learning devices include computers, MP3 players, mobile phones, and tablets. M-learning can be an important part of informal learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open educational resources</span> Open learning resource

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and resources for any user to use, re-mix, improve, and redistribute under some licenses. These are designed to reduce accessibility barriers by implementing best practices in teaching and to be adapted for local unique contexts.

A learning management system (LMS) or virtual learning environment (VLE) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learning management system concept emerged directly from e-Learning. Learning management systems make up the largest segment of the learning system market. The first introduction of the LMS was in the late 1990s. LMSs have been adopted by almost all higher education institutions in the English-speaking world. Learning management systems have faced a massive growth in usage due to the emphasis on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning. The central term in this definition is connections. It adopts a relational stance in which learning takes place both in relation to others and in relation to learning resources. In design and practice, networked learning is intended to facilitate evolving sets of connections between learners and their interpersonal communities, knowledge contexts, and digital technologies.

The Hellenic Open University was founded in 1992 in Patras and is the only online/distance learning university in Greece. Modelled on the British Open University, the Hellenic Open University was established to fill a gap for telematic and distance education in the higher education system of the Hellenic Republic in response to the growing demand for continuing education and lifelong learning.

Connectivism is a theoretical framework for understanding learning in a digital age. It emphasizes how internet technologies such as web browsers, search engines, wikis, online discussion forums, and social networks contributed to new avenues of learning. Technologies have enabled people to learn and share information across the World Wide Web and among themselves in ways that were not possible before the digital age. Learning does not simply happen within an individual, but within and across the networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education</span> 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2002. Located in Half Moon Bay, California, its mission is to make learning and knowledge sharing participatory, equitable, and open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open educational practices</span>

Open educational practices (OEP) are part of the broader open education landscape, including the openness movement in general. It is a term with multiple layers and dimensions and is often used interchangeably with open pedagogy or open practices. OEP represent teaching and learning techniques that draw upon open and participatory technologies and high-quality open educational resources (OER) in order to facilitate collaborative and flexible learning. Because OEP emerged from the study of OER, there is a strong connection between the two concepts. OEP, for example, often, but not always, involve the application of OER to the teaching and learning process. Open educational practices aim to take the focus beyond building further access to OER and consider how in practice, such resources support education and promote quality and innovation in teaching and learning. The focus in OEP is on reproduction/understanding, connecting information, application, competence, and responsibility rather than the availability of good resources. OEP is a broad concept which can be characterised by a range of collaborative pedagogical practices that include the use, reuse, and creation of OER and that often employ social and participatory technologies for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation and sharing, empowerment of learners, and open sharing of teaching practices.

MERLOT is an online repository and international consortium of institutions of higher education, industry partners, professional organizations, and individuals. MERLOT partners and members are devoted to identifying, peer reviewing, organizing, and making available existing online learning resources in a range of academic disciplines for use by higher education faculty and students.

One of the most visible approaches to peer learning comes out of cognitive psychology, and is applied within a "mainstream" educational framework: "Peer learning is an educational practice in which students interact with other students to attain educational goals." Other authors including David Boud describe peer learning as a way of moving beyond independent to interdependent or mutual learning among peers. In this context, it can be compared to the practices that go by the name cooperative learning. However, other contemporary views on peer learning relax the constraints, and position "peer-to-peer learning" as a mode of "learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything." Whether it takes place in a formal or informal learning context, in small groups or online, peer learning manifests aspects of self-organization that are mostly absent from pedagogical models of teaching and learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OER Commons</span> Freely accessible online library

OER Commons is a freely accessible online library that allows teachers and others to search and discover open educational resources (OER) and other freely available instructional materials.

Open educational resources (OER) are learning materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. OER policies are adopted by governments, institutions or organisations in support of the creation and use of open content, specifically open educational resources (OER), and related open educational practices.

This outline of open educational resources provides a way of navigating concepts and topics in relation to the open educational resources (OER) movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online learning in higher education</span> Development in distance education that began in the mid-1980s

Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a development in distance education that expanded in the 1990s with the spread of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web. The learner experience is typically asynchronous but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a learning management system for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.

Online credentials for learning are digital credentials that are offered in place of traditional paper credentials for a skill or educational achievement. They are directly linked to the accelerated development of internet communication technologies, the development of digital badges, electronic passports and massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Open Educational Practices in Australia refers to the development, implementation and use of Open educational resources (OER), open access, open learning design, open policies, and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to open up education in Australia.

Open educational resources in Canada are the various initiatives related to open education, open educational resources (OER), open pedagogies (OEP), open educational practices (OEP), and open scholarship that are established nationally and provincially across Canadian K-12 and higher education sectors, and where Canadian based inititatives extend to international collaborations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Zawacki-Richter, Olaf (2020). "Elements of open education: An invitation to future research". The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 21 (3). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v21i3.4659 . S2CID   226018305.
  2. ↑ Open education for a global economy
  3. ↑ Combs (1968 p. 4)
  4. ↑ Bozkurt, Aras (2019). "Intellectual roots of distance education: a progressive knowledge domain analysis". Distance Education. 40 (4): 497–514. doi:10.1080/01587919.2019.1681894. S2CID   209060529.
  5. 1 2 Boskurt, Aras (2019). "An analysis of peer reviewed publications on openness in education in half a century: Trends and patterns in the open hemisphere". Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. 35 (4): 78–97.
  6. ↑ Bayne, Sian (2015). "Open education: the need for a critical approach". Learning, Media and Technology. 40 (3): 247–250. doi: 10.1080/17439884.2015.1065272 . hdl: 20.500.11820/8392c755-9e0c-4725-afa8-a9ab141653aa . S2CID   60460372.
  7. ↑ Lane, A. (2016). Emancipation through open education: Rhetoric or reality. Open Book Publishers.
  8. 1 2 3 Cronin, Catherine (2020). Open education: Walking a critical path (PDF). Brill Sense. pp. 9–25.
  9. ↑ Cronin, Catherine (2017). "Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education". The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 18 (5). doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3096 . hdl: 10379/6394 . S2CID   157160989.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zawacki-Richter, Olaf (2020). "Elements of Open Education: An Invitation to Future Research". The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 21 (3): 319–334. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v21i3.4659 . S2CID   226018305.
  11. ↑ Dron, J (2014). Teaching Crowds: Learning and Social Media. Athabasca University Press.
  12. ↑ Bozkurt, Aras (2019). "Intellectual roots of distance education: A progressive knowledge domain analysis". Distance Education. 40 (4): 497–514. doi:10.1080/01587919.2019.1681894. S2CID   209060529.
  13. ↑ Peters, Michael (2014). "Open Education and Education for Openness". Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  14. 1 2 Garrison, D (2010). "The first decade of the community of inquiry framework: A retrospective". The Internet and Higher Education. 13 (1–2): 5–9. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.10.003.
  15. ↑ Siemens, George (2005). "Connectivism—A learning theory for the digital age" (PDF). Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. 2 (1): 3–10. S2CID   10302016.
  16. ↑ Blaschke, Lisa-Marie (2012). "Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning". The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 13 (1): 56–71. doi: 10.19173/irrodl.v13i1.1076 .
  17. ↑ Peters, Mitchell (2019). "Lifelong learning ecologies in online higher education: Students' engagement in the continuum between formal and informal learning". British Journal of Educational Technology. 50 (4): 1729–1743. doi:10.1111/bjet.12803. S2CID   164652888.
  18. ↑ (Cormier, 2008, p. 16)
  19. ↑ Cormier, Dave (2008). "Rhizomatic education: Community as curriculum". Innovate. 4 (5).
  20. ↑ Hakim, Sittara (2017). "SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research". E-Learning and Digital Media. 14 (4): 244–253. doi:10.1177/2042753017692724. S2CID   196134570.
  21. ↑ "How Has Technology Changed Education?". Purdue University Online. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  22. ↑ "How can technology improve school education?". World Economic Forum. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  23. ↑ "The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Content in the Digital Age A Foundational White Paper". cyber.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  24. ↑ "Open educational resources | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". www.unesco.org. 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  25. ↑ "College Textbook Prices Have Risen 1,041 Percent Since 1977". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  26. ↑ Kingkade, Tyler (2013-01-04). "College Textbook Prices Increasing Faster Than Tuition And Inflation". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  27. ↑ "Open Educational Resources (OER)" . Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  28. ↑ "Open Education - SPARC". SPARC. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
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