You can look upon open learning in at least two different levels. To be a learner searching for free knowledge on the WWW or to be an open learner inside a “closed” course.

To be an open learner inside a course I think most people will be ok with but being an open learner and share your knowledge and your unknowledge online is not what you can expect every person to be willing to do.

Why do some people want to share what they learn online and some not? What are the arguments?

I think most people who do not want to share their knowledge or lack thereof is scared to show their weaknesses. “Maybe someone discovers how little I know about the subject I´m writing about”.  For you (and for me) I would like first to say that you know more than you think and that your thoughts are interesting and important. I would also try to turn this argument the other way around. Maybe your unknowledge and missteps, if there are any, will show a new path in developing a subject you are discussing. If not so, at least to broaden it, give new ideas. If you post your knowledge online you will also probably get a lot of feedback. Hopefully the feedback you get is serious and well meant and then you will learn more. So, as a conclusion for this perspective you could say that to learn more about what people think or know about a subject you should show your own knowledge for them to comment. An open learner!

Another side of this is as a teacher to put your teaching materials online. Why in the world should you do that? For everybody to steel? Before studying the ONL-course I would have asked these questions myself, but listening to different voices in the course, mostly Alastair Creelman, I see even this coin you can flip and look from the other side. One argument I got was a pedagogical one. If a teacher somewhere around the world will find your Power point or similar it needs to be put into a context. To be able to do so you have to have the knowledge how to do so for the students to understand the content. Why not share with each other so teachers can put their time on how to organize for learning instead of producing materials? It really is a nice thought. To share. And if you share you will probably also get material from others which will make your workload easier. A positive spiral.

From discussions in my ONL202 PBL group (7) I also want to bring forward the social aspect of openness. In many countries around the world there are many people who want to study and to learn new knowledge but they do not have the basis to do so. Thru the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Coarses) and other open and online initiatives these people have a chance to get an education or to widen their knowledge. This opportunity will not just serve the person studying but also the society around.

In these perspectives you can see the act of putting your material or courses open online as charity work! Or should we call it Sharity Work!