OpenEd Wk 14 *** Reflecting on the Future of Open Education

I believe that the future of Open Education is something that will impact all arenas of education; for this reason, the view of the future depends on the lens through which one looks - whether that be higher ed, secondary ed, primary ed or basic ed. I am primarily interested in basic education and the arena which I am interested in is developing countries.

However, I have found the blogs written by other classmates as a great tool to inform ways that Open Education may change all arenas and I have found that there are several cross-cutting dimensions that are shared across the board.

Kurt Johnson references the necessity that the future of Open Education will have to be grounded in what is practical. I cannot agree more. With regard to developing countries, I think that the "leapfrogging" theory - of jumping certain steps to get to others (e.g. going straight to wireless networks instead of laying expensive cables across the Himalayas) has relevance, but that it harbors potential loopholes where it is not actually possible to circumnavigate important steps (e.g. awareness raising, training, development of localized feedback mechanisms).

I liked Andreas' comments about embracing the students' point of view and creating systems that champion their perspectives. I know this is the main goal of Open Education; however, the future will be laden with the task of creating more opportunities of students' participatory governance of education and there will be roadblocks faces and, necessarily, battles to be overcome. I trust that as this movement grows that I will become more articulate in my ability to share with others and to hopefully contribute to the cause in a more effective way.

Finally, I think that the financial considerations (as mentioned by Jon Thomas ) are very real and that more people will see the benefit of the Open Education movement than those who will oppose it. I recognize that I am altruistic (and I am grateful that many others are in this course as well) and I am confident that "what is right" will triumph over the mechanisms that keep enlightenment and progress from the masses. I believe we are all required to be more informed as well as to be more zealous advocates if we wish to see this movement pick up the pace.