There is no doubt that the Internet has revolutionized our daily life. It has been the main medium of everyday communication that is used for different activities ranging from sharing a moment with a friend, ordering food, shopping clothes to even education and learning. In fact, the Internet can be seen as a sophisticated multidisciplinary tool which can enable us to communicate with the society and create content and share them. Besides, it frees us from geographical fetters and connect communities with same interest more easily. In other words, it helps to have topic-based groups that do not necessarily need to tie down to any specific place.
All benefits coming along with this tool would open more opportunities in educational sector as well. Online learning will be an important part of the future education by which more people can access the quality education whenever they want and wherever they are provided that they have adequate infrastructure and technologies in hand. Five main reasons that make the online learning a new way of future education are discussed in [1]. The author considers flexibility, diversity, accessibility, customized learning experience and cost-efficiency as the main driver for going towards online learning.
An important aspect of online learning is the way of sharing the content and resources. In fact, the ability of having free access to resources and reuse, revise, remix and redistribute them, (known as David Wiley’s four Rs [2]) are the main concerns that leads to have different models for open pedagogy.
A model of open educational practice (OEP), as described in [3], regards the sharing of freely accessible resources as integral to collaborative practice. The author defines OEP as: “…practices which support the (re)use and production of open educational resources through institutional policies, promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers on their lifelong learning path”. Learning designs are described as an interactive manner between peers. This model relies on accessing, modifying, re-using, creating, and sharing resources to change how students learn, and it goes beyond simply providing access to open learning platforms, since learners are expected to construct their knowledge and seek peer review of their work. This way the knowledge is co-created and facilitated through mutual interaction and reflection.
Another model which is called open, online, flexible provision of technology-enhanced higher education (OOFAT), is developed by Orr et.al. [4]. They used three core processes of higher education as the basis for their model: (a) content (subject knowledge, support and guidance, and learning analytics); (b) delivery (qualities of place, pace, and timing of delivery of content); and (c) recognition (assessment and credentialization to recognize learning achievements). Each of these processes is evaluated in terms of organizational flexibility (the way in which digital technology is used to reduce the need for physical presence and the possibility of adapting given specific circumstances) and procedural openness (inclusion or how the principle of openness is integrated into the core processes).
I believe that openness is a must in the education. It feels awkward to be in education while not willing to share. The whole story behind the education is giving and taking. More knowledge is gained through constructive discussion and sharing. Although, it is also important to mention that the quality of open resources must be scrutinized very well before being referred to in the course. This requires coordinated effort to identify and modify the resources that meets the state standard.
REF.
- Gemma, J. (2020). 5 Reasons Why Online Learning is the Future of Education; https://www.educations.com/articles-and-advice/5-reasons-online-learning-is-future-of-education-17146, accessed: 25 October 2020.
- Wiley, D. (2013 ). What is Open Pedagogy?; https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2975, accessed: 25 October 2020.
- Ehlers, U-D. (2011). Extending the territory: From Open Educational Resources to Open Educational Practices. Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 15(2), 1–10.
- Orr, D., Weller, M., & Farrow, R. (2018). Models for online, open, flexible and technology enhanced higher education across the globe – A comparative analysis. Oslo, Norway: International Council for Open and Distance Education.
