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The second
topic in the ONL-course was about openness. Which led us to investigate Massive
Open Online Courses
and Open Educational Resources.

At the start of this topic I started looking at the recommended literature and saw the TED-talk Open education and the future by David Wiley. He is a strong advocate for openness and sharing in education, and how easy it can be done with modern technology. But despite the possibility to spread knowledge digitally, still most educators don’t share their content online. D. Wiley explains this as being part of a culture where laws enable us to protect what is ours instead of sharing and being generous.

I think that it is interesting to also see this from a pedagogical point of view. Some people who feel strongly about this seem to have opposite opinions – based on the same point of view. That education and knowledge is very easily shared, like transferring information. The difference being that some people think that if I can share something of value that can be shared easily, then why not share it. While another person is thinking that if something is easily shared then I need to protect it (otherwise I could become redundant as an instructor).

D. Wiley is at one point in his TED-talk saying that successful educators ”are the ones who share the most completely with the most students”. I think that some arguments in Wiley’s speech is based on a rather objectivist approach to teaching. Although I really like the idea of sharing and openness, I think one should not equate sharing content with teaching. I do not agree with Wiley that being a successful educator is only about sharing information to the most students. Knowledge cannot be given so easily from one person to another. A subject also has to be processed by the student, and for most cases that involves some structure and support from a teacher.

Rose hip drawing that I have made and shared on Pixabay

My conclusion from these two weeks is that sharing is generous – but not that easy. There are often things to consider before deciding to share educational content. First of all the quality and correctness, if it is shared from an institution who cares about their reputation. Then there are laws to be aware of, like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and Copyright. There is also the business aspect. Some Universities might not allow their employees to share what they consider are property of the institution. Although Universities in Sweden are funded by the state, there could also be reasons for the instructor to be protective, such as uncertain terms of employment. And also instructors can have pedagogical reasons for having ”closed doors” to the classroom to increase student engagement.

My thoughts on openness and pedagogy