During the last couple of weeks we have been working with Topic 2, Open Learning – sharing and openness. I have been introduced to new theories on connectivism and connected learning to name a few. We have discussed different kind of MOOCs and other possible ways to aline education with what the working life needs, such as badges and micro credentials. We have also investigated open resources that can be used (and produced) in the light of Open Education; CC, Creative commons, OER Open Educational Resources, OEP Open Educational Practices, and as mentioned before, the MOOCs Massive Open Online Courses.

So how does the “open” culture affect teaching and learning? Kay Oddone talked about Open Pedagogy in the webinar and pointed out how Open Pedagogy is access orientated and learner driven and requires a new kind of architecture. (Oddone 2012) When she talks about access oriented pedagogy, she suggests pedagogies that reduce barriers by taking economic, technical, social, cultural and political factors into consideration.  This makes me think that open education has a strong connection to equal opportunities, something that together with democratic values, represent a strong foundation in education in all levels in Sweden. The democratic values are also strong according to Oddone; Enabling learner driven pedagogy is often through the design of architectures that enable active participation, the development of community and connections with others.

This week is the Open Access Week 2019. Open access adressed at scientific publishing is another open context that provide access to research for more people. In a time where online opinions tend to be more polarised, maybe open can be a part of the democratic structure, providing facts and explanation to more people. Furthermore, Oddone claims that learner driven pedagogy, supports democratic values by encouraging responsibility and active engagement.

So, by engaging students and citizens to become coproducers of content in an open culture the open phenomena becomes part of a bigger context than just formal education. Open design and connectivism encourages democratic processes and could support fundamental democratic values which might be taken for granted in a country like Sweden, but are not always reality in all parts of the world.

The word open can of course mean a lot of things when it comes to education and research. In some of the examples mentioned above, open is about sharing resources, research etc, but by having a different attitude towards teaching you can also open up the classroom and to the world around and yet again support democratic values. In the blogpost Transitioning from Conventional to Connected Teaching: Small Moves and Radical Acts Nicola Mirra discusses the transition from conventional to connected learning, and how educators of today often offer students learning opportunities that cross boundaries that positions students as producers and active citizens. She points out the differences in for example civic engagement and collaboration that follows with connected learning vs conventional learning.

So, is open a solution to bigger thing? Yes, I would say. The impact of teaching and course design are significant since educational systems always reflect power in one way or another. The symbolic value of a teacher, how they act and design a course, reflects values that hopefully are democratic. In a time of digitalisation, tools and open networks can support the democratic idea.

References

Open pedagogies: Transforming and empowering learning. (2019) Kay Oddone.
Blogpost accessed on October 24th 2019.

Overview of connectivism. George Siemens (2014)
Film on Yotube.  Accessed on October 20th 2019.

Transitioning from Conventional to Connected Teaching: Small Moves and Radical Acts.(2017) Nicole Mirra  Blogpost accessed on October 20th 2019.