Enterprising Approaches to Openness in Education: Navigating Challenges and Seizing Opportunities

1. ALTO UK Project Report – University of the Arts London Taking Care of Business: Enterprising Approaches to Openness and Sharing in Education John Casey Map Image from the University of Texas at Austin Authors John Casey,

2. The State of the Art (HE/FE) • Cuts, Cuts, Cuts • Greater student numbers • More diverse students, demanding diverse learning opportunities • Endangered subjects – a narrowing curriculum • Slow and fragmented adoption of technology • Work harder? – reaching the limits of the possible

3. Longer Term Trends • Massification of an old elite system (HE) – many contradictions… • Demands for transparency and accountability • Commodification of education (new entrants) • Access to good information no longer a big deal – undermines much of the old HE model • Simplistic approaches to technology – Geronimo’s Cadillac?

4. Technology and Openness – part of a fundamental shift in education Current Practice (subsistence) Future Practice (sustainable) Really About Process Change - think of Open as an enabler

5. Avoiding the Rhetoric of Crisis There is a lot that is good about our education systems… This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Martin Weller http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2012/04/education-the-language-of-change.html

6. Use the Rhetoric of Opportunity – but Deal with TINA! There is a also lot that is long overdue for change… Picture By Stavros Markopoulos @ http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=447602329&size=o

7. OpenEd as a Motor of Change? Impacts on many critical factors simultaneously: • Pedagogy • Culture (personal, departmental, disciplinary, institutional) • Tech Infrastructure • Digital Professionalism (aka Digi. Literacy) • Policy (IPR, HR, PR, Quality, Inclusion) • Strategy (Markets, Efficiency, £Budget) • Management A Systemic Disruptor – this can be very useful…if you want change

8. Technology and Change – the soft stuff is the hard stuff! Attempts to implement e-learning reveal underlying problems in structure and and culture (Pollock, N. & Cornford, J. 2000. Theory and Practice of the Virtual University) Assumptions are often incorrect (UK e-U crash of 2004) Technologies can carry a strong organisational and pedagogical models Friesen, N. (2004) Three Objections to Learning Objects and E-Learning Standards) Ineffective without the necessary changes in the structure of institutions and changes to working practices, needs top-down action Obstacles are philosophical, pedagogical, political, and organisational - the technical issues are comparatively trivial (e.g. Phoenix for profit) Concentration on technical issues - often a ‘displacement activity’ Tradition, dominant groups and vested interests delay and obstruct new knowledge and practices (Kuhn, T. 1996 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions)

9. Open Education and Sharing: Opportunities and Benefits • Can prepare the ground for the effective introduction of flexible/distance learning (tackles systemic factors) • A way of introducing the ‘political economy’ of distance/flexible learning into the mainstream • Benefits include; branding and marketing – ‘try before you buy’, external collaborations. But, the main benefits are internal…