Open Education Week – A Personal Connection
Posted on: Mar 10, 2023
Each year around the world, people celebrate the potential uses and application of Open Education. As an open learning advocate, I wanted to share why I believe in open education from my own personal context.
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Open education “combines the established tradition of sharing good ideas with fellow educators and the collaborative, interactive culture of the Internet. It is built on the belief that everyone should have the freedom to use, customize, improve, and redistribute educational resources without constraint.” (Cape Town Declaration, 2007). |
Open Education provides the opportunity for access to learning for all learners anywhere, anytime, and anyplace. It has been critiqued for assumptions about “whom open education is open for” and there is always room for improvement in how open education is perceived, accessed, considered equitable and how to be inclusive in culturally appropriate and human-centered ways. Nevertheless, as an open educator, I am open to feedback to improve upon and to take into account how to be authentic in my open practices and open learning design.
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Open Education is often connected to Open Educational Resources (OERs) which are “Open learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no cost access, reuse, repurpose, adaptation and redistribution by others” (UNESCO, 2019). |
OERs are also often connected to Creative Commons Licensing in a 5R Framework. If you are curious about an overview of OERs, Creative Commons licensing, and the 5R’s please check out this video.
However, OER’s and creative commons have never been the most essential element of open education for me.
Over the last week, I have been inspired by stories about why Open Education is important to so many people. Open education is essential to me as a woman and educator in Canada. It is also the week we celebrate International Women’s Day. As a woman, I was the primary child caregiver in my family and I was unable to access formal learning opportunities due my lack of flexibility and time commitments. I wanted to learn more and be engaged in what was happening around me – but I felt trapped and isolated at home. This video is one I created over 10 years ago as a “beginner’s” contribution to a collection of “True Stories of Openness” collected by Alan Levine @cogdog:
Open learning gave me the opportunity to develop my digital literacy skills and learn while still continuing to be a mom and work part time. I was able to use social media to meet and connect with people from around the world. It provided me with a strategy to build my confidence as a professional and learner and helped me develop new skill sets in previously inconceivable ways. Open education gave me a pathway to find people like me and to learn the things I wanted to learn.
I developed open learning opportunities for primary and secondary students across Alberta and for teachers around the world. I ended up completing dissertation research focusing on the integration of Open Educational Practices and expanding my expertise in Open Learning Design. I transitioned from K-12 contexts to working in Higher Education where I could share and collaborate with others around Open Education like the Open Education Talks Series (which takes place throughout March 2023) which was organized by a collection of Universities including CUE!
As Open Education Week comes to an end, I want to extend my appreciation and acknowledgement of so many open collaborators around the world who continue to share and believe in the power of open learning.
I leave you with this timeless video and encourage YOU to share YOUR ideas with others because sharing is foundational to education and human connections.
Obvious to you, Amazing to Others
Please don’t hesitate to come and talk with me, Verena Roberts, Educational Developer with the CTE or with our extraordinary CUE Library staff. We can talk about Open Education or any other teaching-related topic.
CUE Open Resources:
Introduction to OER ppt – from CTE
Open Education and UDL Meet Course Design (video)
Open Education Talks Series (Every Wednesday, online, 12-13:30 pm MT, March 2023)