Our angle on the topic of openness was: how does it relate to equality? The main goal of open online education is accessibility, and through that accessibility, equal resources granted for all. However, access alone does not guarantee equality: not only due to literacy or to the availability of network connections, but due to the same biases that afflict standard education. Implicit biases on gender, race, nationality, religion continue to influence teaching and learning, and in a few case studies they were even heightened by the low level of the interaction: a name can be already sufficient to form an unconscious prejudice.

On a more practical side, it is tacit that online education implies a multicultural environment, which leads to a vast web of cultures and of pedagogical signatures, that have to be taken into account by the teacher. Such a level of expertise goes beyond simply being a master of the course subject.

Link to our Mind Map: https://www.mindmeister.com/1454966685?t=EVbYqwT1lf

Topic 2: sharing and openness