Open(ing) Education: Theory and Practice

by Dianne Conrad (Editor), Paul Prinsloo (Editor)

Overview

There is no shortage of scholarly research that reflects the growing importance of open education, whether referring to issues surrounding access to education (formal, informal or postformal); different copyright licencing regimes (e.g. Creative Commons); alternative forms of educational delivery such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or alternative pathways to learning, curriculum development and delivery and/or assessing and accrediting learning. So what can another publication add to our understanding of open education?

It has become clear that thinking in terms of the binaries of ‘open’ versus ‘closed’ can no longer account and do justice to the wide range of possibilities and the varying factors that destabilise some definitions and practices. In Open(ing) Education: Theory and Practice, the authors therefore map ‘open’ as emerging from a dynamic network or ecology of often mutually constitutive factors resulting in a range of possibilities. The chapters in this book provide us with glimpses of open, opening, and opened, with none of these being permanent states of affairs, but rather contingent, serendipitous, often uncertain, and fluid.

This book is unique not only with regard to its variety of approaches to mapping the various possibilities between open and closed but also with regard to the global spread of its many contributing authors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004422971
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/23/2020
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Dianne Conrad, PhD, is an adult, online and distance educator who continues to write and teach in retirement. She has published extensively and serves on many editorial boards. She recently co-authored Assessment Strategies for Online Learning: Engagement and Authenticity.
Paul Prinsloo is a Research Professor in Open and Distance Learning at the University of South Africa. He holds a DLitt and Phil and has published widely in books and journals. He keynotes globally and researches in the areas of learning analytics, student success and retention and postgraduate identities and supervision.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Opening Education: Complex is as Simple as It Gets Laura Czerniewicz ix

List of Figures and Tables xi

Notes on Contributors xiii

Open, Opening, Opened and Openness: An Introduction Dianne Conrad Paul Prinsloo 1

Part 1 Open in Theory and Concept

1 Open Education: Walking a Critical Path Catherine Cronin 9

2 The Opened Mind: An Application of the Historical Concept of Openness in Education Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson Dulce Torres Robertson Trevor John Robertson 26

3 Open Sesame! And Then? Connection, Connectivity, and Liminal Thinking Pamela Ryan 47

4 Talking across the Chasm: Opening up Higher Education in the Knowledge Economy Gabi Witthaus 72

Part 2 Open in a Learning World

5 Transformative Sustainability-Oriented Open Education Anne Algers Arjen E.J. Wals 103

6 Openness and Open Practice in Mentoring: Moving beyond Strong Dyadic Linkages? David Starr-Glass 121

7 Open to inclusion: Exploring Openness for People with Disabilities Tharindu R. Liyanagunawardena Andrew A. Adams Shirley A. Williams 144

8 Opening Educators' Social Learning Ecologies: Conceptualizing Professional Learning across Public and Private Boundaries Kristin M. Rouleau Jeremiah H. Kalir 169

9 Openness in Context: Realizing Openness with Open Educational Resources and Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition Lisa Marie Blaschke Wolfgang Müskens Olaf Zawacki-Richter 198

10 Fostering a Culture of Openness in Open Universities, with a Focus on India Sujata Santosh 224

Part 3 Open in Application

11 Breaking Boundaries and Building Bridges across Knowledge-Sharing Communities: OpenMed Katherine Wimpenny Cristina Stefanelli Saida Affouneh Ahmed Almakari Adiy Tweissi Heba Abdel Naby Seddik Tawfik 253

12 Open Learning and Open Communities: OER for PreK-12 Educators Jenni Hayman Rebecca Heiser Kristina Ishmael 277

13 Openness across Disciplines: Reflecting on a Multiple Disciplinary Summer School Ilaria Torre Klara Lucznik Kathryn B. Francis Diego S. Maranan Frank Loesche Roberto B. Figueroa, Jr. Aska Sakuta Tara Zaksaite 300

14 Open in the Evening: Openings and Closures in an Ecology of Practices Leo Havemann 329

15 Fostering Openness within a Higher Education Institution: Tensions, Opportunities and a Work in Progress Elizabeth Childs Jo Axe George Veletsianos Keith Webster 345

16 A Pedagogy of 'Small': Principles and Values in Small, Open, Online Communities Tanya Elias Laura Ritchie Geoffrey Gevalt Kate Bowles 364

Afterword: (In) Conclusion Paul Prinsloo Dianne Conrad 391

Index 397

Editorial Reviews

"The book offers both foundational considerations for open education and practical applications through case studies on topics such as networks, systems thinking, power, and access. It may be most appropriate for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, as well as educational practitioners and researchers interested in understanding complex educational systems".
E. M. Johns, im CHOICE, 58 (7), 2021.

From the Publisher