Open, Sesame!

Image by Mona Eendra via Unsplash

The topic for this reflective text is Opennes in Education. I have thoroughly pondered upon it over the last two weeks. I started by examining the content of the word ‘open’ looking at how it is used in various idiomatic expressions. I found that many had a positive ring to them and nice images popped up in my head when reading them. Try for yourself – what do you think about when you hear an open book, be open with, out in the open, or open one’s mind to something?

There are people who stress the disadvantages and dangers of open education, of putting themselves and their material out there in the open. Often, this originates from an insecurity: who can do things to my material? Is my material of a good enough quality? Will I still have ownership of my material when I put it online? Who is going to pay me for the time I invest in it? And what about copyright issues and plagiarism? Of course, you need to take certain measures before you share your material, and luckily, there are guides for that.

In my opinion, the benefits of open education outweigh the disadvantages. I think that there is no other option than to open up education. Anywhere. For everyone. During the pandemic, we’ve seen how quickly teachers switched from classes on campus to teaching online. Flipped classroom has never felt more natural. The use of video and other digital tools has increased enormously over the last six months. Universities and publishers have opened up and made their content available online for free. And cooperation between teachers, on national and international levels, has taken off and gathered speed. The main reason for this is to make knowledge easily available to more people. That in itself illustrates an important aspect: the democratic value of open education. To me, open education is a goal rather than a topic of discussion. Hence, the question is not ”Should we open up education?” but rather ”How shall we open up education?”.

The answer is not an easy one, as there are many aspects to consider before opening up your classes/teaching/materials. To name but a few: what is the purpose? In what format should you present it? For whom? What are the benefits for you as a teacher and for your learners? And if learning takes place, what kind of learning is it?

Attaining open education works best when done in cooperation with others. Of course, there is the advantage of pedagogical development of the individual teacher, but if you work together with others, your institution/s and university/ies benefit as well. The time-saving aspect is another one: you don’t need to invent the wheel again on your own, but can start building that car together. And don’t forget the fun and satisfaction of creating online material together!

So, you’re all set to open up now. But how prepared is your university to opennes in education? In International Education Studies, the following article Are universities ready to recognize open online learning? discusses that. Also, opening up education can have a positive impact for the university as a whole. In an interview published on the website of the Open Online Consortium, Anka Mulder from TU Delft in the Netherlands gives four reasons for embracing open and online education: idealism, reputation, innovation, and quality. She describes open education at her university in five words: acces to higher education, innovation and quality. A good example for other universities to follow, if you ask me.

In PBL-group 01, we interpreted the scenario of a teacher wanting to open up their teaching, and took the following stances: How open am I? How can I open up? And last but not least, How can I get students & colleagues on board? In stead of summarizing our discussions, feel free to take a look for yourself at our Prezi.

A single blog post is too small to cover all aspects of openness in education, or to answer all the questions. I can only advise you to take a look at the presentations of the other PBL-groups – a true treasure chest of shared knowledge on the topic. During these two weeks, I have learned a lot from disucssing with my fellow PBL01-ers, but also from reading articles, blogs, and other material regarding open education. The more I read and discovered, the more positive I felt that open education is the way to go. When working on my own teaching, I now automatically think: how could I open this up and make it available to others?

This topic really opened my mind!

References:

Margarita Tereseviciene, Elena Trepule, Estela Dauksiene, Giedre Tamoliune & Nilza Costa (2020). Are universities ready to recognize open online learning? International Education Studies Vol. 13, No. 2.