Widening access to open education – the way forward

What the MOONLITE project (2016-2019) has shown us

webinar Recording

Description

The ideas and practices that underlie open education have been around for a very long time. Given the promise of such a democratic approach to teaching and learning it is perhaps surprising that it is not more widely used. When Massive Online Open Courses (or MOOCs) appeared on the public radar around 2012 they looked a game-changer, something that could, once and for all, change the role of open education and its importance in the educational landscape. However, seven years later, while there is a wide range of these courses available, little change has taken place in the widespread adoption of open education.

As a result of the research undertaken in the MOONLITE project, and different and varied interchanges of ideas, debates, and collaborations with other academics and experts in the field of open education and social inclusion, it has been possible to identify seven key challenges, that we believe still need to be addressed to take open education to the next level. Namely:

• improving access to MOOCs and open education;
• keeping MOOCs open and free;
• the need for support in inclusive MOOCs;
• designing and developing MOOCs for social inclusion;
• the recognition of prior learning and MOOC certification;
• the need for open education policies at national and international levels;
• new funding and business models.

In this webinar we will present and discuss these challenges and consider how to widen access to open education.

Questions to consider

• If education is a basic human right then why is so much knowledge / educational content locked away in not-for-free sources?
• Open education, in the sense of resources and practices, seems to offer a solution to the access problem. So why is it not more widely used or appreciated?
• Are MOOCs the educational panacea they were once thought to be, or just another step on the evolutionary ladder toward next-generation teaching and learning, being inevitably forgotten and overlooked with time?

Participation and privacy

This webinar will feature small group discussions so please make sure you have a web camera and headset activated before you join the meeting. The main part of the webinar will be recorded but not the group discussions. Your name will not be visible in the recording, neither will the chat session.

You will meet

Timothy Read is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at UNED, Spain. He has held a range of positions in the university government at UNED and is currently Pro-Vice Chancellor of Methodology and Technology. He is an EDEN Fellow and also the co-founder of the ATLAS research group and is currently working in European and nationally funded projects in the area of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and massive open online courses for languages (LMOOCs).

Alastair Creelman

E-learning specialist at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden. He is involved in several national and international projects and organisations in the field of e-learning, including the MOONLITE project. He is and EDEN fellow and member of the EDEN NAP Steering Committee.

Twitter: @alacre

Blog: Corridor of uncertainty – reflections on technology and education