6. I. Constellations of Open
Forthcoming in Deimann, M. & Peters, S. (eds.) (2016). The Philosophy and
Theory of Open Education. New York: Peter Lang Publishing
7. History of open education
Peters and Deimann (2013) have demonstrated that the history of
openness can be understood to stretch back before the
institutionalization of education, even if the language of open was not
always used.
• Ancient knowledge transmission through apprenticeship
• Guttenberg printing press (1450s)
• Monastic tradition gave way to university institutions
• Emergence of the public sphere (Habermas, 1962) and public
university systems
8. History of open education
By the 1960s the open education movement had
begun to coalesce around the idea of
disestablishing cultural, economic and institutional
barriers to formal education. The Open University
in the UK was founded in 1969 to widen access to
higher education by disregarding the need for prior
academic qualification, and using the
communication technologies of the time to ‘open
up’ campus education though a “teaching system
to suit an individual working in a lighthouse off the
coast of Scotland” (Daniel et al., 2008).
load.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Louisbourg_Lighthouse.jpg
9. History of open education
• Industrialisation brought the rise of popular literacy and establishment
of public libraries and distance education
• In the 20th century we have seen an extension of the belief that
education is a right that can be extended to all
• It is mistaken to see this as a linear historical progression: (Peters &
Deimann, 2013:12) observe that “historical forms of openness caution
us against assuming that particular configurations will prevail, or that
social aspects should be assumed as desired by default”.
10. History of open education
• Over the last decade – primarily in the form of Massively
Open Online Courses (MOOC) and Open Educational
Resources (OER) – the open education movement has further
expanded opportunities for education worldwide.
• Yet as opportunities for accessing educational materials
increases, so higher education (in the West, at least) has
increasingly seemed to be in a crisis of funding shortfalls,
massive student debt, and a lack of graduate employment.
This has led some to ask whether open education is the
saviour of traditional education, or the herald of its demise.
11. “Open approaches are featured in the mainstream
media. Millions of people are enhancing their
learning through open resources and open courses.
Put bluntly, it looks as though openness has won.
And yet you would be hard pressed to find any signs
of celebration amongst those original advocates.
They are despondent about the reinterpretation of
openness to mean ‘free’ or ‘online’ without some of
the reuse liberties they had envisaged. Concerns are
expressed about the commercial interests that are
now using openness as a marketing tool. Doubts are
raised regarding the benefits of some open models
for developing nations or learners who require
support. At this very moment of victory it seems
that the narrative around openness is being usurped
by others, and the consequences of this may not be
very open at all.” (Weller, 2014: 14)
12. • Contextualist, not essentialist
• Defines itself against a status quo that restricts some activity:
open lets you do X
• Fundamentally oriented towards freedom
• But what kind of freedom?
13. Negative Liberty: the absence of (external)
restrictions on activity; freedom from
interference
Positive Liberty: the capacity to act on the
basis of one’s free will; implies rational
agency, autonomy, active choice
Distinction made by Fromm (1941)
and Berlin (1958)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Statue_of_Liberty_from_ferry.JPG
14. Characteristics of Constellation Method
• Always reconstructive and historical
• Begins with actually existing examples of practice
• Intimately related to how language is used
• Move beyond binary judgements (e.g. open or not?)
• Anti-essentialist: “the constellation of moments is not to be
reduced to a singular essence; what is inherent in that
constellation is not an essence.” (Adorno, 1973:104)
• Recognises historical contingency without over-simplification
or relativism
• Constellation does not prohibit possibility of other
constellations, nor future re-interpretation
• Reflective open practice
15. Other work relating to this strand
• Deimann, M. & Farrow, R. (2013). Rethinking OER and their
use: Open Education as Bildung. International Review of
Online and Distance Learning 14(3).
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1370/25
42
• Farrow, R. (2015). Open education and critical pedagogy.
Learning, Media and Technology. DOI:
10.1080/17439884.2016.1113991
• Farrow, R. (forthcoming 2016). Framework for an open ethics.
Open Praxis
16. II. Open Education Research Hub
Prof. Martin Weller
Dr. Rob Farrow
Dr. Bea de los Arcos
Dr. Beck Pitt
Natalie Egglestone
17. • Research project 2013-2015 at The Open University (UK)
• Funded by William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Tasked with building the most comprehensive picture of OER impact
• Organised by eleven research hypotheses
• Collaboration model works across different educational sectors
• Global reach but with a USA focus
• Openness in practice: methods, data, dissemination
OER Research Hub
oerresearchhub.org oerhub.net
18. Keyword Hypothesis
Performance OER improve student performance/satisfaction
Openness People use OER differently from other online materials
Access OER widen participation in education
Retention OER can help at-risk learners to finish their studies
Reflection OER use leads educators to reflect on their practice
Finance OER adoption brings financial benefits for students/institutions
Indicators Informal learners use a variety of indicators when selecting OER
Support Informal learners develop their own forms of study support
Transition OER support informal learners in moving to formal study
Policy OER use encourages institutions to change their policies
Assessment Informal assessments motivate learners using OER
20. • Research instruments applied
consistently across collaborations:
surveys, interview questions,
focus groups, etc.
• Supplemented by integration of
secondary research
• ‘Agile’ research, sprinting
• Thematic and methodological
cohesion provided by research
hypotheses
Research Process
25. • 37.6% of educators and 55.7% of formal learners agree or strongly
agree that OER use increases student satisfaction
• 27.5% of educators and 31.9% of formal learners agree or strongly
agree that OER use improves student grades
• Impact appears to be greater for non-grade related aspects:
- 36.2% (n=254) OER improves student engagement ✓
- 36.2% (n=254) OER promotes new ways of learning ✓
- 35.2% (n=256) OER increases student interest in subject ✓
- 35% (n=249) OER leads to student self-reliance ✓
26. • 55.7% (n=370) of formal students agree or strongly agree that OER
increases student satisfaction
• Formal learners reported that increased interest in subject was the
main outcome from using OER (60.1% n=398)
• Others included increased experimentation (49.4% n=398) and
gaining confidence (48.6% n=322)
• For some cohorts (e.g. Saylor Academy) more than half of learners
believed that they grew more confident, became interested in a
wider range of subjects and felt their learning experiences improved
27. • 79.4% of OER users adapt resources to fit their needs
• 79.5% of educators use OER to get new ideas and inspiration
• Videos are the most common type of OER used
• 88.4% of learners say that the opportunity to study at no cost
influenced their decision to use OER
• 40.9% of all formal learners in our sample believe that OER have a
positive impact in helping them complete their course of study
28. • 79.6% of formal students think they save money by using OER
• 31.5% of non-formal learners say that their interest in using OER is a
chance to try university-level content before signing up for a paid-for
course
• Informal learners choose OER that are relevant to their particular
needs, have a good description of learning objectives and outcomes,
and are easy to find and download
• 31.3% say their use of OER influenced their decision to register for
their current course
29. Impact of OER repository on likelihood of future study
Repository More likely to study formally Less likely to study formally
Saylor
(n=1858)
19.8% 19.9%
OpenLearn
(n=583)
31.4% 13.9%
iTunesU
(n=94)
23.4% 25.5%
30. iTunesU channel users were much
more likely to be younger and were
mostly male. They are often in full
time education and use OER on an
informal basis outside of their
formal studies to pursue interest in
a wide range of subjects
31. Saylor Academy users are more
likely to be in employment and
already in possession of a degree.
They tended to be middle aged and
primarily motivated by professiona
development.
32. OpenLearn users were more likely to be older, retired, and
female, and had a higher proportion of users who were
motivated mainly by personal interest (though 40% are in
full time employment).
37. Summary of General Findings
• There was a high degree of satisfaction with OER across all types of
user, with a large percentage willing to access further OER and to
recommend them
• However, OER brand recognition was weak compared with other
popular resource sites, and finding appropriate OER was a major
obstacle
• Use of OER increases satisfaction and engagement with learning and is
seen as saving students money
• Users look for relevance, reputation and clear learning outcomes
when selecting OER
38. Summary of General Findings
• OER (in English) is not confined to one or two disciplines, with all
subjects well represented, and a range of formats are accessed,
although video remains the most significant
• An under-reported benefit for educators is the manner in which OER
cause them to reflect on their own practice, and to broaden their
teaching approaches
• Similarly underreported is the idea that the benefits may not be cost
savings and improved performance but recruitment and retention of
students
43. • Research into open education and strategies for building
worldwide open education research capacity
• Available for research & consultancy (short & long term)
• Current projects include:
Open Education Research Hub
44. • Research into open education and strategies for building
worldwide open education research capacity
• Available for research & consultancy (short & long term)
• Current projects include:
46. The Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
project aims to facilitate best practice in open
education in Scotland through:
• the development of a peer support network
• an online hub and awareness raising
activities
• collecting evidence of effective practice
oepscotland.org
49. • Research into open education and strategies for building
worldwide open education research capacity
• Available for research & consultancy (short & long term)
• Current projects include:
What can OER do for me? Evaluating the claims for OER
Who are the open learners?
What difference is openness making? Nb ethics paper
Open Research Course
Researcher Toolkit
Openness (freedom) as supposition of moral responsibility
What can OER do for me? Evaluating the claims for OER
Who are the open learners?
What difference is openness making? Nb ethics paper
Open Research Course
Researcher Toolkit
Openness (freedom) as supposition of moral responsibility
What can OER do for me? Evaluating the claims for OER
Who are the open learners?
What difference is openness making? Nb ethics paper
Open Research Course
Researcher Toolkit
Openness (freedom) as supposition of moral responsibility
TWO WAYS: 1. Disregard previous experience/qualification. 2. Use technologies
As far back as the 1970s the argument was being made that ‘open education’ was a somewhat vague and nebulous phrase (Denton, 1975; Hyland, 1979).
The point is that openness is not a teleological progression
Pick up on this idea of open education as saviour/apocalypse later, perhaps in connection with colonization
These aren’t necessarily all to do with openness, but form a set of co-ordinates that may help us to understand where openness makes a difference
These aren’t necessarily all to do with openness, but form a set of co-ordinates that may help us to understand where openness makes a difference
Open Access publication: making peer reviewed research available free of charge and with minimal restrictions on copyright and other licensing restrictions (Suber, 2012)
Probably best known
Open Data – releasing data for others to use
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. It is the leading trend in distance education/open and distance learning domain as a consequence of the openness movement.
Open Pedagogy is defined by Wiley (2013) as “that set of teaching and learning practices only possible in the context of the free access and [the] permissions characteristic of open educational resources”.
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2975
Open Educational Practices include a whole life cycle of OER production and use, institutional strategies, empowering informal learners, creating environments that supports learning, and empowering individuals (Ehlers, 2013:89-97).
As Bayne & Ross (2014:21-22) note, we are starting to see a move away from the cMOOC/xMOOC binary and greater recognition of more diverse forms of open online course, including DOCC (Distributed Open Collaborative Course); POOC (Participatory Open Online Course); LOOC (Local open online course); BOOC (Big/Boutique Open Online Course); and even a non-open variant – SPOC (Small Private Online Course).
Openness can be seen as a matter of access, of licence, of publicity, of transparency, of pedagogical practice, or of policy; and yet it is not reducible to any one of these. Sometimes it seems to refer to processes, and sometimes to the outcomes of those processes.
Mostly it is context dependent: this makes it hard to extrapolate from one example to others, meaning that we don’t really get closer to a universal definition of openness
More vague = more open to commercial exploitation
Openness can be seen as a matter of access, of licence, of publicity, of transparency, of pedagogical practice, or of policy; and yet it is not reducible to any one of these. Sometimes it seems to refer to processes, and sometimes to the outcomes of those processes.
Mostly it is context dependent: this makes it hard to extrapolate from one example to others, meaning that we don’t really get closer to a universal definition of openness
Examples of open tend towards NEGATIVE LIBERTY: removal of barriers. This is well developed but doesn’t capture ‘thicker’ sense of freedom. Eg. Resource rich drug addict. Needed also is a sense of POSITIVE LIBERTY: what kinds of actions in this area can be endorsed by free, rational beings?
Deeper ‘ethic of care’
Vision of social justice
The ‘underlying ethos of openness’ (Atenas & Havemann, 2014)
WORKING ASSUMPTION: Open education has articulated the negative sense but less so the positive sense
So what does all this have to do with Constellations?
Constellations aren’t there. We imagine/interpret them
We are always looking into the past
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
So what does all this have to do with Constellations?
Synergies between open education and critical theory. One key assumption is that ideologies
In one sense this is what all open education researchers are arguably doing, even if they don’t conceive of it this way.
Quotes like these may not be doing me any favours.
I didn’t just invent research!
So what does all this have to do with Constellations?
Bildung: Critical pedagogy:
What can OER do for me? Evaluating the claims for OER
Who are the open learners?
What difference is openness making? Nb ethics paper
Open Research Course
Researcher Toolkit
Openness (freedom) as supposition of moral responsibility
Most responses came from the USA (n=862) or the UK (n=473) though India (n=117) Canada (n=87) and Brazil (n=84) also contributed significant amounts of data. Most countries were represented and people from every continent contributed information. Excluding Africa, only Bolivia, French Guyana, Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, Suriname, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela were not represented. Most countries recorded between 5 and 40 responses.
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
The higher figure for OpenLearn may be explained by the existence of planned pathways between OpenLearn content and degree level content provided by The Open University (UK) which make it easier to move from non-formal to formal study.
NO FURTHER STUDY = LEARNING NEEDS MET?
Immediate and ongoing access to educational resources
For educators, the most important factors surrounding OER are relevance and quality.
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
Caveat – some stereotyping imminent
Users of iTunesU showed a much lower average age profile with 71.8% of their users aged below 35. By contrast, OpenLearn users tended to be older, with 69% aged 35 or over and relatively few younger users. The pattern of user age profiles was closer to a standard deviation for Saylor users (perhaps reflective of a larger sample size).
YouTube is the most popular place to find open resources, with over 50% of each sample reporting that they used it to find OER. iTunesU and TED talks were also popular across the samples, as was Khan Academy (though less so with users of OpenLearn).
DON’T USE REPOSITORIES?!
Saylor users were much more likely than the other groups to be studying via MOOC platforms (41.7%, n=751). BUT Respondents showed a lack of understanding about the nature of an OER repository: between 9% and 20% of each sample said that they did not use any OER repositories despite the fact that they had only been offered the chance to participate in the survey specifically because of their OER repository use.
What is meant by adaptation is not always clear. We took it to mean remix behaviours but many reported activities along a spectrum of adaptation.
What can OER do for me? Evaluating the claims for OER
Who are the open learners?
What difference is openness making? Nb ethics paper
Open Research Course
Researcher Toolkit
Openness (freedom) as supposition of moral responsibility