Thoughts on Open Education (W5)

With one of our assigned readings being about open education this week, I knew I had to write a blog post about it. I’m currently taking EME5250 (Open Education and Open Educational Resources) at the same time as this class, so I have already come to learn a lot about OER in just five weeks.

Caswell et al. (2008) offer a great overview of the OER movement, and surprisingly, much of what they wrote nearly two decades ago still holds true today. In fact, I wish I had read this article in week one of EME5250. It would’ve been the perfect primer!

At its core, the OER movement is about expanding access to education by making learning resources free, open, and available to anyone, anywhere. In theory, it’s hard to argue against that. But in application, things get complicated quickly. Licensing, copyright clearance, funding, and sustainability all pose major challenges. As Caswell et al. (2008) note, institutions often start OER projects with private funding, but long-term support requires rethinking infrastructure, faculty involvement, and even institutional policies.

What stood out to me most while reading was how little exposure OER actually has, at least from my own experience. I had never even heard of open education or OER until week one of this summer semester. The authors mention that there was “growing momentum” in higher education back in 2008, and they cited a 2005 stat showing that 35% of MIT freshmen were already aware of OpenCourseWare. I can’t help but wonder what that number would be today. I know none of my friends talked about anything like this when we were heading into college!

OER can be incredibly beneficial, but there still seems to be a major gap in visibility and awareness. On top of that, there are so many logistical hoops that educators have to jump through to get these resources out there, especially when it comes to licensing. In my opinion, the biggest barrier is simply getting faculty or content creators to dedicate time beyond their normal job responsibilities to create, curate, and license materials properly.

What are your thoughts on OER? Am I the only one who had never heard of it until recent? Does anyone have experience with it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Source:

Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jensen, M., & Wiley, D. (2008). Open educational resources: Enabling universal education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(1), 1-11.

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