OpenEd Wk 4 *** Background Readings in Open Education

I appreciate these readings on Open Education as a means for setting the foundation for Open Education, OER, Open Content, and the underlying philosophy of this revolutionary movement. An overriding theme of these documents seems to be that: While open education presents many great opportunities, the present and prospective impact of this movement is yet to be understood and, in light of the potential of OER for expanding global learning opportunities, the current research and development funding is alarmingly limited.

I am particularly interested in the implications of this movement for promoting community and economic development among lower-income groups in rural disenfranchised countries. These articles have given me a handle on the movement generally and have triggered interest for further research with regard to appropriate technologies and training tools for lower-literate populations that are politically and geographically hampered.

I particularly liked the OECD article, "Giving Knowledge For Free" because of its comprehensive approach to the issue of Open Education. I appreciate the questions that this paper poses, particularly the issues related to sustainability cost/benefit models for OER initiatives and issues around intellectual property rights.

I am still wrestling with the question of how to create incentives for faculty, staff, change-agents (e.g. youth mobilizers) to share their localized content through open formats. Although I see the benefit of institutional support for broad, sweeping impact, I also recognize the benefit of volunteers and ad-hoc initiatives which are grassroots-grown and -implemented.

What is most interesting to me is the way that Open Education might have influence for expanding access to the right to education in developing countries. I believe that OER holds potential to unlock barriers across many arenas of development - with regard to education generally, but specifically in areas of health, e-commerce, agriculture, environmental conservation, good-governance and democracy-building.