The introduction of the Internet changed the world as we knew it. Today we can access any resource from any location. Education is not an exception. Some assert that online courses carry the potential to revolutionize the boundaries of modern learning by making high-quality education available to a much more vast pool of students.

“Anywhere there is an Internet connection, students can log-on to learn” [1]

David Wiley in the TED-talk Open education and the future [2], points that education should be a resource that is accessible for everyone. I could say that I agree with this statement.  Education should be accessible independently of your nationality and status. But I wonder what is the reality of open education nowadays.  

We can fall into the utopian idea that having an internet connection is enough to access quality and free education. This is not really true. The design and management of any type of course, online or not, involve some costs. Institutions, such as universities, provide the resources and financial support necessary to carry a course. The salary of the teachers, the material necessary, and the management of the platforms, all require big amounts of money. If we take the Swedish universities as an example, the students have not to pay any tuition, however, this does not mean that the education is free. The cost of that education is paid by the government (via everyone’s taxes) and fundings from projects. Education is not free. Nothing nowadays is free.  

That leads us to the questions:

Who is going to be in charge of open education? Who is going to fund it?

Types of open courses

There are several open course models available. In the first place, we can find online courses that are supported by the same universities that provide education in physical locations. Those courses follow similar rules that the non-online courses and usually are accessible via the same procedures as the traditional ones. There are always one or several educators involved in the course and they are in charge of supervising the learning process and examination.  

Another type of open education is the courses based on Open educational resources (OER). These are openly licensed and available at all times to millions of people over the period of a year, with no tutor support. The course has to be self-sufficient.  This option is a great option for the development of open courses and provide specific information about different topics. Nevertheless, there are aspects that need to be analyzed.

First, only some platforms are really free, (e.g [3]). Other platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, or Edx offer some free courses, but the vast majority require a small payment or a subscription. This happens because education is still a business. Educators that spend time and effort to create quality content usually want some profit back. Of course, this is not always the case, there are still selfless people in the world.

The platforms where the courses are located also require some investment to pay the domain and maintain the webpages working, consequently, the owners of the pages also want to obtain some profit.

Another aspect is the quality of the education. You can learn from these types of courses. I do not say the opposite. I used them myself during my phd studies to fill some gaps in my education. However, they are not recognized as the same level that a university course. The quality of the education is not really assessed. This type of courses are not supervised and examined by a professional, therefore, it does not count as a qualification (Even if you have paid to get a certificate).

Finally, there are other types of courses available online. Those that are completely free and usually provided by private institutions. I would like to call them “ bait courses”. It is true that they are free, it is true that the quality is good and they are supported by recognized institutions, but they are only a small part of what that subject is about and usually they are designed to attract and catch students to pay for their not-so-free complete courses.  

Final thoughts

Looking at the current open-learning landscape, I personally think that the open education is still a business that unfortunately does not bring education to everyone equally. I don’t want to be negative, I think that the Internet provides a good frame to develop quality education for everyone. However, quality education always involves some price. The cost can be paid by the government, institutions, or by the student himself, but is not going to be free.

Also as a final reflection, I would like to remind everyone that not everything that is available online is trusted and true. Raw information is not enough to learn, the learning process involves different steps that cannot be covered just by reading or watching videos.  

Education is been adapting to modern technologies and like everything related to the internet is growing rapidly and wild. We, as teachers and educators, should learn how to build and consolidate quality and accessible education. Open education should not be a utopia but a reality.

What are your own thoughts about open education? is a utopia or a reality? Who is in charge?

See you in the next topic!

Cristina Paniagua.

References

[1] Shapiro, Heather B., et al. “Understanding the massive open online course (MOOC) student experience: An examination of attitudes, motivations, and barriers.” Computers & Education 110 (2017): 35-50.

[2] Open education and the future, Short TED-talk by David

[3] https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/local/ocwcreatecourse/gettingstarted.php