[Open-education] Friday Chat: what is openness to you?

Tue May 6 10:48:50 UTC 2014

I am also a bite late but would like to point to the paper Sandra Peter 
and I have written:

      "On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction"

available here:

http://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/23

Best,
Markus

Am 06.05.14 12:31, schrieb Sally Parsley:
> Hi all, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Openeness - so many great 
> points. I'm a bit late joingin in but I'd like to share this paper 
> "The Discourses of OERs: how flat is this world?" (from 2008). 
> It examines issues around knowledge and power that a couple of people 
> have raised already.
> http://jime.open.ac.uk/article/2008-11/348 
> <http://jime.open.ac.uk/article/2008-11/348>
> (see especially section 4.1 The Discourse of Collaboration)
> Best wishes
> Sally
>
>
> Sally Parsley
> Open educational resources and E-communciations
> Disability and Eye Health Group
> E mail: sally.parsley at lshtm.ac.uk <mailto:sally.parsley at lshtm.ac.uk>
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>    1. Re: Friday Chat: what is openness to you? (Fred Baker)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 19:06:52 -0500
> From: Fred Baker <fredwbaker at gmail.com>
> To: Andre Jaenisch <ryunoki at openmailbox.org>
> Cc: open-education at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: Re: [Open-education] Friday Chat: what is openness to you?
> Message-ID:
>     <CAPAFTEZdxJPr0JBc+yzGZFVq-0tXiJ_4ad4BhRZsTEseX=LwhA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> All:
>
> I am enjoying this discussion!
>
> I was formally introduced to the philosophy of openness when I happened
> upon a local Linux User?s Group (an informal club where people who are 
> fans
> of the Open Source Linux Operating Systems gather). I may have been in my
> early twenties at the time and I don?t think I had really ever put much
> thought into alternative systems of creating products and services. I
> always assumed that companies made things, people bought them, and 
> that was
> that. I liked the idea that people could come together and create 
> something
> that was aesthetically pleasing and functional, and that it could be
> created by volunteers doing what they loved without anyone being forced or
> coerced to participate.
>
> I was always interested in the human aspects of openness. When I was
> looking for a research topic to study in my doctoral work in Instructional
> Design, I eventually landed on openness as I learned more about the many
> areas that the philosophy had been applied to. I looked more deeply into
> Open Source Software and started seeing how it was being implemented in
> higher education in the US. I also learned about the differences that 
> Andre
> was referring to.  I saw Open Access research as an interesting 
> alternative
> to the standard journal systems, and later found OER, open textbooks, and
> similar open content to be interesting as well. One of the more prominent
> Instructional Designers in our field, David Wiley, has done a lot of work
> in this area. I was also intrigued with how the open concept worked in a
> learning environment, especially around the community aspect. When MOOCs
> took off and then became exploited, I was really a bit bummed out. I think
> this is part of what Darco was referring to when he talked about the term
> being inflated. I was happy that the concept was getting attention, but I
> was really concerned that the hype was going to give people a bad 
> taste for
> the openness. There were also a lot of people proselytizing the 
> concept and
> over-proimising it?s benefits without evidence. On top of this, it was
> extremely difficult to nail down just what openness was all about at its
> core. From a research perspective, this gave me some issues.
>
> I kept digging around and eventually found the open education movement 
> from
> the 1960s and 70s, which featured open plan schools, respect for learners
> as humans with autonomy, and many of the same issues that are apparent in
> todays open movement. I kept digging, and eventually settled on the idea
> that openness, at least as it applies to products, systems, and services,
> is all about implementing transparency (visibility, access, etc. broadly
> within the system or service) and freedom (ownership;the ability and the
> right to interact with the various pieces of the system). I went with this
> for a good while. I really like it, and I have published a little bit with
> these concepts, but my thinking has evolved a bit more through my
> dissertation work so that I now think of openness as a more human-centered
> concept. I think that really, what openness is all about, is attempting to
> design or redesign systems, products, etc. so that they benefit as many
> people as possible, without sacrificing the functionality of the original
> system or product.
>
> I know that was a long email, but I am passionate about the subject (and I
> think you all are as well)!! I will say that I am a good bit more reserved
> about openness than a lot of its proponents. I think there is a definite
> place for it alongside traditional systems, and I think that it has
> absolute benefits, but I don?t think that openness should necessarily be
> the standard, nor that it is good in all areas. For me, it is something
> that should be practiced, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator
> (lift?), but does not imply that we should do away with the dominant 
> system
> (the lift). I think this is a response to the power issue that Marieke and
> Pat brought up. It can be an ideological topic, but it can also have real
> implications for innovating, especially in education.
>
>
>
> -- 
> best,
>
> Fredrick W. Baker III
>
> e-mail:      fredwbaker at gmail.com
> Phone:      251-281-8517
> Skype:       fredwbaker
> Twitter:    @FredWBaker
> WWW:     FredWBaker.com
>
> University of South Alabama
> College of Education
> UCOM 3800, Mobile, AL
> 36688
>
> "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
> something, build a new model that makes the existing model
> obsolete."~Buckminster Fuller
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Andre Jaenisch 
> <ryunoki at openmailbox.org>wrote:
>
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > Since Leonhard missed it, I'm replying to this thread again to enable
> > him to join the question.
> >
> > Leonhard, below you can find former contributions by Darco and Pat to
> > the question Marieke asked.
> >
> > Feel free to reply on this email :)
> >
> >
> > Andr? Jaenisch
> >
> > Am 02.05.2014 19:49, schrieb Darco Jansen:
> > > Dear all,
> > >
> > > Thank you Marieke for starting this discussion. And thanks for 
> referring
> > to removing barriers as a key issue.
> > >
> > > Openness in open education for me is about removing all unnecessary
> > barriers to learning and provide people with a reasonable chance of 
> success
> > in education. This implies 'openness' in the sense not only of no 
> financial
> > cost, but also open accessibility, open licensing policy, freedom of 
> place,
> > pace and time of study, open entry, and open pedagogy.
> > >
> > > For me personally I see an inflation of the term openness, as everyone
> > is using open now. Open has become a business term, it opens doors.
> > Consequently openness can be anything. MOOCs are open as they are free
> > online available? (no for me). OCWC changed their name to Open Education
> > Consortium, and now they are now an expert consortium of all apects 
> in open
> > education? (no for me)
> > >
> > > But who cares.... Openness is not a absolute term, it is refers to
> > something being closed. And not everything can and must be open, as
> > discussed in latest book on Open Development by Smith and Katherine:
> > "However, no open model is ever universally open, nor can it ever 
> be. "The
> > constraints of people , existing social systems, and the contours of the
> > open model all provide limitations to who can participate, and how. 
> Time,
> > distance, language, culture, past experiences, and so on, affect
> > individuals' ability to access and participate meaningfully."
> > >
> > > So, for me openness is about removing barriers but such that it it
> > creates success for as much as people as possible And that is not only
> > barriers at entrance, of by improving design (e.g. by pedagogy) but also
> > how open development approaches can increase success for many.  As 
> such it
> > is connected to a social mission, to equity, to social inclusion, etc.
> > >
> > > Enjoy your weekend,
> > >
> > > Darco
> > >
> > > Sent by iPad
> > >
> > > Op 2 mei 2014 om 18:59 heeft "Pat Lockley" <
> > patrick.lockley at googlemail.com<mailto:patrick.lockley at googlemail.com>>
> > het volgende geschreven:
> > >
> > >
> > > To me, openness is, like you mentioned based on power. Hobbes and his
> > leviathan are quite apt.
> > > I don't feel it has to be about knowledge or education, but the humble
> > acceptance that some other can improve or gain from your work in 
> ways you
> > can't possibly imagine, and to prevent them from doing so, is to 
> denigrate
> > your work, almost explicitly criticise it, and to leave me thinking you
> > must be a little arrogant.
> > >
> > > On 2 May 2014 14:47, "Marieke Guy" <marieke.guy at okfn.org<mailto:
> > marieke.guy at okfn.org>> wrote:
> > > Last week we talked about having a Friday Chat or discussion on the
> > list. There were quite a few suggestions on how best to do this. I 
> was out
> > at OER14 early this week (some really great sessions<
> > http://education.okfn.org/oer14-outwards-and-onwards/>) and have been a
> > little busy since so haven't had time to look in to any of the more
> > exciting approaches in detail.
> > >
> > > In an attempt to keep things going I've set up an etherpad<
> > http://new.okfnpad.org/p/Open_Education_Working_Friday_Chats> [apologies
> > Andre ;-)] and have dropped in some ideas for topics - please do add 
> more!
> > >
> > > Fred suggested we start with "what is openness to you?"
> > >
> > > Thinking back, I studied an MSc in Information Management many 
> moons ago
> > and I remember a discussion we had in the pub after a lecture about the
> > phrase "knowledge is power". We acknowledged that the phrase is 
> often used
> > in a very competitive way in the commercial space - for many of us it
> > brought to mind bankers and trust fund managers - people who deal in
> > secrecy and competitive advantage. When we dug a bit deeper<
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientia_potentia_est> we realised that the
> > phrase (attributed by many to Francis Bacon - though actually first 
> used by
> > his secretary Thomas Hobbes) is actually about the value of 
> education, not
> > about withholding information. Our discussions went on to consider 
> whether
> > which is the best path to knowledge - openness or secrecy? I was 
> quite keen
> > on openness...
> > >
> > > I see openness as one of the tools that helps us find knowledge. 
> For me
> > openness is about a freedom that allows us to work together, rather 
> than in
> > isolation. In places like the UK openness is often a given, in other
> > countries they have to continually fight for this right. Openness 
> manifests
> > itself in removal of barriers such as censorship, financial 
> inequality, the
> > inability to change, racism and other forms of oppression - it 
> results in
> > transparency and ultimately a better world.
> > >
> > > So what about you? ;-)
> > >
> > > Marieke
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Marieke Guy
> > > LinkedUp<http://linkedup-project.eu/> Project Community Coordinator |
> > skype: mariekeguy | tel: 44 (0) 1285 885681 | @mariekeguy<
> > http://twitter.com/mariekeguy>
> > > The Open Knowledge<http://okfn.org/>
> > > Empowering through Open Knowledge
> > > http://okfn.org/ | @okfn<http://twitter.com/okfn>| OKF on Facebook |
> > Blog | Newsletter
> > > http://remoteworker.wordpress.com
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
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> > >
> > >
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-- 
Dr. Markus Deimann
FernUniversität in Hagen
Universitätsstr. 33 (KSW)
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