openeducation

Open education refers to a movement and a set of practices that aim to make educational resources, methods, and technologies freely and openly accessible to everyone. This encompasses a broad range of initiatives, including open educational resources (OER), open access to scholarly research, and open online courses, often referred to as MOOCs. The core principle of open education is the removal of barriers to learning, whether they are financial, technological, or administrative.

Open educational resources are teaching, learning, and assessment materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or are released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. This includes textbooks, lecture notes, videos, syllabi, and full courses. The goal is to foster a more equitable and accessible global education system.

Open access initiatives, particularly in research, ensure that scholarly articles and other academic outputs are freely available online, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. This promotes wider dissemination of knowledge and accelerates research and innovation.

Open online courses, such as MOOCs, offer individuals the opportunity to learn from universities and institutions worldwide without the need for formal enrollment or tuition fees. While these courses may not always lead to formal accreditation, they provide valuable learning experiences and skills development for a global audience. The open education movement advocates for greater transparency, collaboration, and shared knowledge in the pursuit of lifelong learning.