'The Why and How of Open Education‘

Session One: Towards Suitable Concepts

By: Dr. Andreas Meiszner, United Nations University UNU-MERIT – The Netherlands Workshop on “The Why and How of Open Education: Concepts and Practices”

OKCon 2011, June 31st – Berlin, Germany

... and more in detail Open Education allows for:

•  A greater range of inputs – not just from the educator, but from all contributors so the collective is the source of knowledge, not one individual •  A more personalized learning experience – learners can gather the elements of knowledge they require – but skip what they know already. •  Greater sharing of knowledge – in traditional higher education much of the previous input is lost, whereas in Open Education the dialogue, resources, and outputs remain as learning resources. •  Peer production – active engagement in producing something with a set of peers is a powerful motivational and educational driving force. •  Real activities – engaging in legitimate activities that are not restricted to an artificial university setting also provides valuable experience. •  Peer support – a large support network provided voluntarily by peers in a collaborative manner nearly 24/7. •  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts – all individual actions and activities add a value to the educational experience

... and from a financial perspective Open Education could allow for:

•  Cost Sharing; e.g. through joint course production and delivery

•  Cost Reduction; e.g. through avoidance of replications or through an increased transparency of processes

•  Higher Value for Money; e.g. a better learning experience for students

•  New Revenues; through unbundling traditional education services or through new services

... so why then ‘NOT’ to engage at Open Education?

•  It is more complex; more stakeholders, less control,etc.

•  It is ‘new’; thus more uncertain and humans generally tend to avoid change…

•  It might be a threat, to current funding and business models, to the institutes strategy, to ones own job, etc.

•  It could challenge the ‘status quo’; academia might (further) loose the monopole on providing higher education.

•  It might be a totally pointless undertaking that would never work out in practice – so why being the first risking it…

For the start: Make your content available! It’s perhaps not education, but a pre-requirement!

Very easy: Just Open Up your course and let others OBSERVE!

Pretty easy: Just Open Up your course and let others PARTICIPATE!

Equally easy: Let your students INTERACT with others from Academia or Industry

Not that easy, but still feasible: Develop & Deliver an Open Course together with others

Even less easy, but APPARENTLY still feasible: Set up an OPEN University

And last but not least: confer degrees or certification for Open Learning!

Thank you for your attention!

Dr. Andreas Meiszner, United Nations University

UNU-MERIT meiszner@merit.unu.edu