Working with topic 2 has definitely been an eye-opener for me. As I wrote in my previous blog post, I entered this course with quite a bit of confidence and the belief that I had a pretty good grasp of the subject matter. In our group work, we chose to focus on the definition of openness – there were several different definitions depending on the type of educator and the type of institution they worked in. Within the realm of openness, we decided to delve into OER, Open Educational Resources. The biggest takeaway for me from this work is how vital openness in education is for democracy. Here we are in Sweden with our super-fast internet connection and our university education funded by taxpayer money, and we may think that openness isn’t so great for the quality of education or for our brand, or because we can’t control dissemination, or because we might make money by selling our courses, or…
That education is something everyone is entitled to and something we can all help facilitate is a given. I have realized that I need to make more effort in this regard. There is a lot that can be done to open up more at universities. It’s so easy to start from oneself and one’s own circumstances, but if everyone strives for inclusion and accessibility, we will have a much fairer situation.
I was very uninformed about things like Creative Commons before starting topic 2, but with the help of my group members, I now know much more about both the advantages and disadvantages of this. I will definitely delve much deeper into the subject and see what it could mean for me in the future.
Overall, the work in my group and with topic 2 has been very rewarding, and I have learned a lot, both about myself and about openness in education in general.
Vesna Bulatović says:
This is a great post! Your exploration of openness in education raises some important points. Sharing resources through OER definitely seems like a valuable approach to making education more accessible.
March 21, 2024 — 10:53 am
Johanna Karlsson says:
Thank you Vesna! And I finally managed to connect my blog, hahaha!
March 21, 2024 — 1:52 pm
Alastair Creelman says:
Great that you feel inspired to find out more. However, we need incentives for teachers and institutions to open up. What can your university do? Why is higher education an exclusive rather than inclusive system? In Sweden we reject thousands of students every year because we have limited space o our courses. How can they continue their studies?
March 22, 2024 — 12:24 pm
Johanna Karlsson says:
Yes, I agree! I think there are many things to do, and opening up courses for example by creating blended courses or opportunities for distance education is one way. Unfortunately, after Covid there is such a resistance when it comes to this…
March 22, 2024 — 3:33 pm
Lars Harrysson says:
Thanks Johanna,
A nice revelation of how we construct our learning contexts based on information about our “world”. Still, it is obvious that there is not one answer to open education, but many. Which would be yours? What of all the ideas you have met would enhance your work in particular?
The group seems to be working in a great manner and in so offer a lot to its members in inspiration. I really look forward to see how you in your Topic 3 post perhaps can share how collaborative learning might influence your everyday practice, how and why?
/Lars
March 22, 2024 — 2:56 pm
Johanna Karlsson says:
Thank you, Lars! Yes, I’m looking forward to topic 3 too 🙂
March 22, 2024 — 3:34 pm
Bee Bee Sng says:
Dear Johanna,
I appreciate your desire for greater inclusivity and equality through OER. However, I wonder how our current system of evaluating the performance of academics, namely, through the number of their publications and which tier they publish in, may be a barrier to open sharing. I think the current appraisal system for academics make them very guarded about their research findings. Not sure what others think of this situation.
March 28, 2024 — 4:37 am
Johanna Karlsson says:
Yes, I agree! We did talk about this in the group, and it is definitely one of the problems. We are fostered into being protective and closed in the world of academics, and it’s hard to see how to work around this without a major change in attitude.
March 28, 2024 — 1:14 pm
Jonathan Phan says:
Hi Johanna, I resonate with your call to a more inclusive, accessible form of education made possible through OER. Although the ultimate goal is to make learning fair, it’s very sad that there are companies out there who thrive on commercial exploitation of students’ data, which begets gatekeeping at the institutional level. It seems to be a catch-22 situation, which is sad.
March 28, 2024 — 2:24 pm
Johanna Karlsson says:
I totally agree!
March 28, 2024 — 2:42 pm
JL says:
Thanks Johanna for the insightful post. It made me read a bit more about the extent of government funding for universities, tuition fees and student debt in Sweden. I also found the talk and discussions about Creative Commons in ONL helpful as my knowledge in that area is rudimentary. JL
March 30, 2024 — 5:31 am
Johanna Karlsson says:
Thank you JL! Yes, the system is generous and good in many ways, but also, like all “free” stuff, make people not appreciate it enough, I think.
April 2, 2024 — 6:31 am
Susan Lee says:
HI Johanna,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I share your insights on the democratising benefits of open educational resources and am beginning to feel less shy about sharing my reflections, pedagogy designs and recently adopted approaches to using generative AI in course and classroom.
The past two weeks have emboldened me to be reminded of the value of open dialogue and sharing of concerns, which affect many educators from different countries and across disciplines. The sharing on Creative Commons is also insightful as I have little knowledge of it and will now learn to navigate it as a participant and user, and less of a passive consumer, thanks to the week’s discussions.
March 30, 2024 — 7:07 am
Johanna Karlsson says:
Hi Susan! I’m happy to hear it! Creative Commons is a jungle, and I’m happy to have learned some things about it during last topic.
April 2, 2024 — 6:32 am