From terrywassall.org

Open Education

There is a growing interest in open education for a number of reasons, two of which are outlined here.

If it is intended to extend the benefits, for individuals and society, of higher education to as many people as possible, then the current UK model of higher education cannot and will not achieve the desired expansion. Open education has the potential for providing higher levels of education to a much larger percentage of people. Formal accreditation and certification may not always be important. Where it is it is possible to envisage formal higher education institutions that offer assessment and accreditation to individuals who have achieved the necessary standard via an open education route ("the accreditation of alternative personal learning pathways" M Bean, ref??). A related scenario is where educational institutions exploit open education resources in their formal provision and also contribute open education resources including suppport and accreditation to affiliated open learners. This would be a major contribution to a strategy for a sustainable open education sector based on cooperation and collaboration between formal and informal providers of open education materials, structures and networks.

Another agenda open education addresses has a more political, democratising and even emancipatory thrust. There is a very large population that is excluded from the benefits of formal education at all levels. This has consequences for excluded individuals who lack the 'cultural capital' to be effective citizens and participate fully in the life of their communities and society and are not able to achieve their full potential for individual well-being and contributing to society. In a political and cultural environment dominated by competing social constructions of issues and problems and where powerful interests shape people's knowledge, attitudes, common sense and even identities, to be excluded from knowledge about and participation in these processes is to be an alienated, demoralised and often bewildered and fatalistic passenger through life's journey - dependent and reactive rather than having at least a degree of independence and control over one's own destiny. Open education offers the hope and possibility of reaching and benefiting some of the excluded and disenfranchised and helping them take a more active and effective role as full citizens of their society.

This still leaves open what is meant by 'open learning'. Learning in one form or another is a feature of an individual's entire life, through childhood, puberty and adult life into old age. Learning has always been 'life-long'. It takes many forms, informal, mimetic, vicarious and accidental, conscious and unconscious. Learning in formal educational contexts is of great importance in modern societies but makes up a relatively small part of an individual's lifetime learning. Much learning of crucial importance takes place before entering the formal educational system and most takes place after conventional formal learning is completed. Generally speaking open learning is contrasted with the sort of education that takes place in formal educational institutions which tends to be, by comparison, closed.

Generally by open learning we do not mean all learning in its various modes that takes place outside of formal education. It has some of the features of formal education but with open access to explicitly educational materials and resources and forms of learning support and mentoring more usually accessible only within educational establishments. Apart from textual and other learning resources this would include some sorts of equivalents to tutor and academic inputs, discussion and debate. In an open learning context these sorts of human, social and discursive resources are provided via informal and semi-formal self-organising networks made up of individuals and roles including both 'open learners' and 'open scholars'.

So open education is where individuals or groups specify an educational project (or knowledge need) that can be met outside of formal educational institutions (though these may make available open educational resources) using open educational resources (some of which are explicitly educational resources and some become so within the context of the educational project). Where individuals collaborate and/or support one another as a learning group or network, they form a network of open learners. If the network can identify and engage with individuals who are 'expert' learners in some way, with particular knowledge of the issues and materials, with experience of researching the area or supporting learners within formal educational contexts, then these individuals are additional open educational resources available within the open learning network. The open learning process may involve the specification, discovery and evaluation of educational resources and their incorporation into the learning narrative of the group. This will involve some notion of what the learning objectives are for the group and variants of these for individuals.

Open learning can be an adjunct and enhancement to formal learning, for instance in the case of a school or university student researching and exploiting open educational resources and openly available sources of expertise and discussion outside of the formal provision. A contrast here may be between the materials, support and discussion taking place within the institutions VLE and a student’s engagement with a wider, looser network of materials and fellow learners. This is particularly relevant for students engaged in research and project based learning and assessment but can be relevant for all stages of formal education.

For academics and tutors in educational institutions, engagement with open education may mean the specification, discovery, evaluation and use of open education resources that are relevant for the module or course being taught. This may require the writing of a range of 'wrap-around' materials that embed the open resources into the narrative and objectives of the course. This may also mean the modification and repurposing of some open education resources where this is possible and permissible. In addition to this, and very usefully, the tutors can engage their students in this process and thus begin to develop them as open and independent learners. Finally, if the repurposed open educational materials are made available to the open education community along with appropriate 'wrap-around' materials, the tutor operating within the closed formal education system is acting to some extent as an 'open scholar'.

Open learning may be entirely individual and ad hoc, for instance an individual researching a medical condition, or how to write a wills or aspects of inheritance laws. This will involve developing an understanding of the individual's situation and particular circumstances and identifying the information required. This may also involve ad hoc engagement with on-line discussion boards and other sources of information and advice.

These three examples point to the utility of developing an understanding of open education by building a set of open learning scenarios.