While leading the discussion for Topic 2, it dawned on me that I didn’t research enough about the meaning of Openness in various contexts.  As I started to hear from colleagues and being a L&D practitioner, I started to question what does it take one to be competent in Openness?  I went through some journals and found an interesting read, “Future Skills for Openness – A framework for promoting openness in science and business (Hoffmann et al., 2022)”.  According to this article, Open practices indicate mindset, abilities and skills as well as tools through which openness is practised in the contexts of open science and open innovation.

While we discussed about Open Learning – Sharing and Openness frequently with colleagues, participants/ students, we might have forgotten to ask what were done to enable them to be develop their “Openness”? The enabling process is not just about complying to education policies/guidelines.  However, it should be balanced in equipping them with a skill set for openness, which include: communication, integration capability, conflict resolution/ conflict management, network competence, problem-solving skills, intercultural competence and systems thinking.  To expect someone to be “Open” in sharing products/service, documents etc., the entire eco-system needs to factor in on how to thread on openness and how much they should be and can afford to be open? It is the entire eco-system.

Additionally, the article introduced some tool sets to enhance one’s openness, such as: systems mapping; design thinking; data literacy; collaboration skills; open- mass innovation and open collaborative innovation methods etc (Hoffmann et al., 2022).  These tool sets for openness consist of the application of specific methods (Tools, instruments) that are required to specifically enhance innovation processes. These are known as Open practices (Hoffmann et al., 2022).

An “Openness” constructs come with a mindset, skillset and toolset.  It is not so straight forward as what many people envision it to be. If we do not consider or factor these constructs in deepening learning for stakeholders, at the end of the day, certain stakeholders may be disadvantaged.  Students, for example who are not trained in the “Openness” constructs, such as do not adhere to copy right infringement policies will run into issues when working with an organization who adheres to it fully.

Hoffmann et al., W. (2022). Future Skills for Openness A framework for promoting openness in science and business. Future Skills for Openness A Framework for Promoting Openness in Science and Business, 1–48. Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://innosci.de/wp-content/uploads/Framework-Future-Skills-for-Openness_eng.pdf.