This blogpost is a part of #ONL221

Throughout the past two weeks, as we were discussing the various factors that determine openness and how value in OE is determined in my problem based learning (PBL) group, I found myself thinking about the origins and history of Open Education (OE) and Open Education Resources (OERs) and how the social justice approach to open education can be embraced?
In this blogpost, I attempt to highlight some history of the movement towards OE and OER and reflect on the key points that stood out to me during our discussions on the topic.
Coffee houses and OERs
Sandra Peter and Lesley Farrell highlight two key moments in history where there was a shift from education being confined to the institution, to it being made more accessible to everyone. The first being the development of coffee houses, also commonly known as Penny Universtities, in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. At a time where scholarly engagement was only for ‘elite’ men, Penny Universities helped break this social stratification. With a penny, anyone could enter the coffee house and engage with content and information presented there.
What is interesting to note in the case of the coffeeshops is the inherent motivation to open the coffeeshop was economical. Owners aimed to attract as many people as possible and opening the coffee house made economical sense. It was not particularly based on altruism, equity or sharing of knowledge that drived this openness.
The second key moment, is the rise of the internet in the 21st century which gave way to OERs. The aim of OERs as mentioned by the Hewlett Foundation is to give everyone equal access to quality education that is available for free digitally. A large part of the OER movement was and is driven with the idea of equity in mind.
The Social Justice Approach
During a webinar breakout room discussion, one of our colleagues in the cohort pointed out that by keeping research and knowledge open, resources are not used to replicate the same information again. Everyone is able to build upon what is shared and engage in joint innovation.
How do we encourage and develop the understanding that the best use of resources would be through knowledge sharing and joint innovation? How do we value equity and adopt practices that help close the gaps we have in education?
Openness in Global Health Education
“Removing access barriers to this literature will accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.” — Budapest Open Access Initiative
I reflected upon these questions in relation to my field Global Health (GH). Global health is a field that has equity in its heart and should ideally be aiming to reach maximum levels of openess in education. However, the reality is quite different, with Global Health education heavily concentrated in the Global North and access to information still limited by paywalls, location etc. A lot of the history of global health has colonial roots (much like the rest of the education) and the process of open education is just starting.
From MOOCs to open access journals, the movement to decolonise GH and make knowledge accessible is largely being driven by individuals and students in academia. One example, to shift towards complete openness is the formation of Plos Global Public Health, which promotes the movement towards equity, diversity and inclusion in publishing. This has also made me think about how I as an individual can contribute to this shift in openness within GH.
How are you or your field approaching openness in education?