This is a presentation which discusses the future of open education, but more specifically, the use of open content, open accreditation and open learning.
Opening Doors: The Future of Open Education in Higher Learning
1. Opening Doors:The Future of Open Education in Higher Learning By Stacey Alexander Education 6620, Memorial University For Dr. Elizabeth Murphy Saturday, August 7th, 2010
2. Introduction The demand for access to higher education is projected to increase to about 160 million students worldwide by the year 2025 (Taylor, 2007).
3. Introduction It will not be economically viable to produce universities to supply classroom-based education; instead, we will use open-model, Internet-based educational technologies (Taylor, 2007).
5. Open Content Open content is content which will be made available for distribution to and improvement by everyone (Cedergren, 2003). People will be able to access information freely.
6. Open Content A model of value chains with 9 driving forces of Open Content(Cedergren, 2003, Figure 6)
7. Open Content Initiatives like the open education resource movement will focus on “promoting…the creation…of educational resources…to a global audience” (Morgan and Carey, 2009, p. 2).
8. Open Content Comparison of the evolving life cycles of a Learning Object and an Open Learning Object (Fulantelli, 2008, Figure 1)
10. Open Content Some creators of open content might want to offer what they choose to offer as open content, instead of what people need (Cedergren, 2003).
11. Open Content However, open resources like Wikipedia will facilitate global collaboration (Zhang and Zhu, 2006), and content will not be limited by the intentions of content creators. A value model of Wikipedia (Cedergren, 2003, Figure 5)
13. Open Accreditation University students will no longer be restricted because they will be able to “learn from intellectuals around the world through books, or via the Internet” (Tapscott, 2009, p. 11).
14. Open Accreditation Educational institutions will have a system of unbiased, external accreditation agencies outside of “the academic oligarchy” which will regularly manage their own standards and criteria (Westerheijden, 2001, p. 73).
19. Open Learning Open learning will give “the control…of the learning process...to the learner” who will feel “empowered to choose what to learn, when, at what pace, where and how” (Allan and Lukoševičiutė-Noreikienė, p. 94).
20. Open Learning The open innovation model will establish a process of knowledge creation which will share rather than restrict access to it, thereby increasing a sense of community and reducing barriers to participation (Schmidt, 2008, p. 7).
21. Open Learning Students Doing Fieldwork with PI Project (McAndrew et al., 2010, Figure 2) This photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license
22. Open Learning According to Morgan (2008), models for OER will range from “self-directed-access-on-your-own type learning” to “open-course-with-open-teaching (with credits for some)” (¶ 3).
23. Open Learning The OpenLearn Home Page (McAndrew et al, 2010, Figure 1)
25. Open Learning One problem with open learning is that some higher learning institutions could be hesitant to open up and create “space for their students to drive academic innovation” (Schmidt, 2008, p. 3).
26. Open Learning Openness Underpinning Communication, Sharing, and Learning/Researching (McAndrew et al., 2010, Figure 6)
27. Open Learning Relationships among free contributor to contributor assistance, interpersonal factors, intrinsic motivation and performance (Zhang, 2006, Figure 2)
28. Conclusion In the future, open content and course models will be implemented to increase access and enable global participation in higher education (Morgan and Carey, 2009).
29. Conclusion More open education models will make the acquisition of learning and credentials easier for students of all demographics to access (Schmidt, 2008).
30. Conclusion This will be beneficial to African and Asian countries which have many citizens but not a lot of much money to implement educational programs (Olakulehin, 2008, and Sharma, 2005).
32. References Allan, A., & Lukoševičiutė-Noreikienė, I. (2008). Quality Assessment of a Blended Studies Course in the Context of Open Learning Ideas: A Case Study. Quality of Higher Education, 594-131. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from ERIC database at http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ870185.pdf. Altbach, P., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. (2009). Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution. A Report Prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.unesco.org/tools/fileretrieve/2844977e.pdf.
33. References Cedergren, M. (2003). Open Content and Value Creation. First Monday, 8(8), Retrieved July 31, 2010, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1071/991. Fulantelli, G., Gentile, M., Taibi, D., & Allegra, M. (2008). The Open Learning Object Model to Promote Open Educational Resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, Retrieved July 31, 2010, from ERIC database at http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ840806.pdf.
34. References Geser, G. (2007). Open Educational Practices and Resources: The OLCOS Roadmap 2012. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC), 4(1). Retrieved July 31, 2010, from http://www.uoc.edu/rusc/4/1/dt/eng/geser.pdf. Hughes, J. (2008). Open Accreditation – a model. Pontydysgu. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.pontydysgu.org/2008/10/open-accreditation-a-model/.
35. References McAndrew, P., Scanlon, E., & Clow, D. (2010). An Open Future for Higher Education. Educause Quarterly Magazine, 33(1). Retrieved July 31, 2010, from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/AnOpenFutureforHigherEducation/199388. Morgan, T. (2008). Higher Ed hacks #1-open models. Online article. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://homonym.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/higher-ed-hacks-1-open-models/.
36. References Morgan, T., & Carey, S. (2009). From Open Content to Open Course Models: Increasing Access and Enabling Global Participation in Higher Education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5), Retrieved July 31, 2010, from ERIC database, at http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ869414.pdf. Olakulehin, F. (2008). Open and Distance Education as a Strategy for Human Capital Development in Nigeria. Open Learning, 23(2), 123-130. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from ERIC database.
37. References Pfaffenberger, B. (2001). Why Open Content Matters. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 14(1), 93. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from Academic Search Premier database. Schmidt, J., Geith, C., Håklev, S., & Thierstein, J. (2009). Peer-to-Peer Recognition of Learning in Open Education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5), Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/641/1392.
38. References Schmidt, J. P. (2008). Open courseware as an example for user-centric innovation in higher education–towards a new social role of the university. Proceedings of the 4th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education, Vol. 2. Knowledge technologies for social transformation. Barcelona: Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI). Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://web.guni2005.upc.es/media/0000000500/0000000522.pdf. Sharma, R. (2005). Open Learning in India: Evolution, Diversification and Reaching Out. Open Learning, 20(3), 227-241. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from ERIC database.
39. References Tapscot, D. The Impending Demise of the University (2009). Edge. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.edge.org/about_edge.html. Taylor, J. (2007). Open Courseware Futures: Creating a Parallel Universe. E-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 10(1). Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/e-jist/docs/vol10_no1/papers/full_papers/taylorj.pdf.
40. References Westerheijden, Don F.(2001). Ex orientelux?: national and multiple accreditation in Europe after the fall of the Wall and after Bologna. Quality in Higher Education, 7(1), 65 -75. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/108739_770885140_713692758.pdf. Zhang, M., & Zhu, F. (2006). Intrinsic Motivation of Open Content Contributors: the Case of Wikipedia. Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE), Chicago, IL. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from http://butlercommonplace.org/thoughts/images/d/d8/ZhangZhu2006.pdf.
41. Disclaimer “I have not copied any full sentences or parts of sentences orally or in written form anywhere in this assignment without providing page or paragraph references.”
Notes de l'éditeur
The demand for access to higher education is projected to increase to about 160 million students worldwide by the year 2025 (Taylor, 2007).
Because of the higher numbers of students, it will no longer be economically viable to just continue producing more universities to supply classroom-based education for these students. Instead, we will need to turn to open-model, Internet-based educational technologies.
These will include open content, open accreditation and open learning.
Educational content will use open content in the future. Open content is content which will be made available for distribution to and improvement by everyone (Cedergren, 2003). People will be able to access information freely,
which will allow people to produce derivative works “that substantially incorporate and rework the means of expression found in copyrighted works” (Pfaffenberger, 2001, p. 94). Information will no longer be “a zealously protected right of real property” and democracy will be upheld (p. 101) .
Initiatives like the open education resource (OER) movement will focus on “promoting and enabling the creation and distribution of educational resources and OpenCourseWare (OCW) to a global audience” (Morgan and Carey,2009, p. 2).
Universities will take part in open education resource schemes that make course content available to the public, in a manner similar to M.I.T. (Geser, 2007), and will improve upon these models as time goes on.
A viable plan for a global meta-university could be operational within a few years, with the cooperation of a network of organizations that believe in the idea of open courseware for students (Taylor, 2007).
One challenge involved with the use of open content is that some creators of open content might want to offer content based on what they choose to offer as open content, not based on what people need (Cedergren, 2003).
However, open resources like Wikipedia will facilitate voluntary global collaboration for the betterment of knowledge (Zhang and Zhu, 2006), and will not be limited by the intentions of content creators.
Open accreditation will be used with open education resources (OER) in the future. It will differ from current accreditation models in that the accrediting bodies will no longer be the same as the institutions providing the education.
University students will no longer be “restricted to learning from the professors at the university he or she is attending” because they will be able to “learn from intellectuals around the world through books, or via the Internet” (Tapscott, 2009, p. 11).
Educational institutions will have a system of unbiased, external accreditation agencies outside of “the academic oligarchy” which will regularly and flexibly manage their own standards and criteria (Westerheijden, 2001, p. 73).
Open accreditation will introduce a “peer-based method of assessment and recognition as a feasible option for accreditation purposes” which will “leverage online communities and tools...into a reliable assessment of quality” (Schmidt et al., 2009, p. 1).
Morgan (2008) suggests two possible models for accrediting courses involving OER would be accredited self-access centres, and inter-institutionally shared course components (¶ 4-10 ).
In order for open accreditation to reallyflourish, higher education will need to become less of “a competitive enterprise” (Altbach et al., 2009).
Open accreditation can help to offset the limited admission of students into top institutions, so that institutions will no longer compete for status and funding from external sources. This will increase the sense of “academic community, mission and traditional values” (p. iv) on a global scale.
Open learning will also be a major trend in the future. Open learning will give “the control of many facets of the learning process... to the learner” who will feel “empowered to choose what to learn, when, at what pace, where and how” (Allan and Lukoševičiutė-Noreikienė, p. 94).
In open learning environments, learners will gain “the ability to personalize educational resources” and will combine this personalization with social networking in order to start setting a customized learning agenda (McAndrew et al., 2010, Campus, Distance, and Open Learning section, ¶ 5).
The open innovation model will establish a public and transparent process of knowledge creation which will share rather than restrict access to it, thereby increasing a sense of community and reducing barriers to entry and participation (Schmidt, 2008, p. 7).
According to Morgan (2008), models for OER will range from “self-directed-access-on-your-own type learning” to “open-course-with-open-teaching (with credits for some)” (¶ 3).
Other models will involve some combination of independent and university-based components (¶ 2).
User-centric, innovative models with cheaper, more affordable production and communication solutions that utilize the internet will change how university-level teaching and learning are conducted (Schmidt, 2008, p. 15).
One problem with open learning is that some higher learning institutions could be “hesitant to embrace the opportunities of “opening up” and creating space for their students to drive academic innovation” (Schmidt, 2008, p. 3).
There are also concerns that the quality of education could suffer with the adoption of open learning models, because anyone would be able to participate (p. 3).
However, allowing users to identify and address their own needs will create “strong incentives to innovate” and the open community will foster sharing and evaluation opportunities which will be both beneficial and effective in education (p. 8).
In the future, open content and course models will be implemented to increase access and enable global participation in higher education (Morgan and Carey, 2009).
More open education models will make the acquisition of learning and credentials easier for students of all demographics to access (Schmidt, 2008).
This will be beneficial to African and Asian countries which have many citizens but not necessarily much money to implement educational programs (Olakulehin, 2008, and Sharma, 2005).
As a result, the future of learning is one that will be more global and learner-centered in perspective.