Open Learning

As one would expect, the primary distinguishing factor of an open university is the practice of Open Learning strategies. Many of them are listed below. I will not delineate material which is already available enough and would derive no benefit or exposition from any explanation which I could provide:

Active learning

Augmented learning

Cooperative learning

Experiential education

Social learning

Learning by teaching

Language exchange

Adventure learning

Didactic method

Distance education

Minimally Invasive Education, a term used in the deployment of Internet-connected computers in public places to encourage voluntary learning.

Self-regulated learning

Game based learning

Guerilla Techniques

It is an understatement to say that this list is complete. It is an error to say that this list is stable. As higher education in general moves toward open practices, new modalities will develop. New technologies will lead to new practices. The last, to me, best encapsulates my sense of Open Learning—moving the learning from the classroom and saturating it into the learner’s everyday life. The learning becomes a constant, but unseen force leading to specific objectives, but where the results cannot always be fully foreseen. Each of the techniques and strategies listed are forms of what I consider guerilla learning. Emerging Technologies are what make each of these easier to achieve.

The use of emerging technologies also has two additional important implications for this list. First, as Clay Shirky (2008) notes, the internet has allowed easier formation of groups and communities around topics of interest. Therefore, new communities are easy both to develop and, with the right value proposition, sustain. Second, emerging technologies and evolving teaching methodologies require an agility which is possible only in an open university. Veletsianos (2010) addresses this issue and writes: “the word evolving describes a dynamic state of change where technologies and practices are in a continuous state of refinement and development.” In internet terms, this is crowd sourcing. This is not only a learning strategy, but an assessment strategy (Davidson 2011[1]). Keeping teaching current is no longer enough as current, in educational terms, is always lagging behind as does any static point. An open university, in its commitment to open learning, must also maintain its teaching in a continuous state of evolution and be dynamic in every way possible [see AGILITY]. That is, understandably, uncomfortable for many, but the speed of change means that we have to get used to the discomfort for survival. Ironically, while many wish to malign students of today, they know that they need to depend on themselves to find and learn what they need to know. We need to do the same. In short, we have a lot which we can learn from our students. Therein is one of the great advantages of an open university, it is designed to be a two way dialogue and the learner plays a critical role in bringing knowledge and experience to the table. Our responsibility is to be open in learning strategies so as to not limit the possibilities. These forms and strategies not only include the idea of the essay covered above in the introduction, but also the form and shape of courses.

A graduate school in an open university must embrace these forms of learning. Programs must move away from essentialist learning and focus in ways of meeting learner needs in a way that reflects not only their learning styles but the open world which they live in. Academic programs and curriculum must be designed in such a way that they enhance and build from open learning strategies.

---

[1] Davidson’s article, referenced here, includes a description of a course she developed entitled “This is Your Brain on the Internet” which is one of the best examples of open learning.