Lack of truly open and equitable access in Open Education

The ideas of open education that we have been learning about this semester has partially revolved around the concepts of this information being open and where everyone has equitable access to it. However, while these are key components that make up open education, the reality is that open education is not as open or equitable as it implies

Inequities of Open Education

One of the premises of open education that makes it so desirable for many demographics is that it’s supposedly equitable for all users regardless of any barriers that may exist. Some examples of barriers are: financial, levels of education, systemic and even physical. Nonetheless the actuality of equity in open education is limited in its capacity. The reason for this is mainly due to Open education following the trend of technology as outlined by Selwyn and colleagues in 2019. In these trends there are two main areas that inhibit how equitable these services can be (Selwyn et al., 2019). The first is that its design ignores the larger social structures for providing service by only focusing on individualistic needs (Selwyn et al., 2019). The second is that the socio-cultural aspects of technology which has been found to drive modern education are neglected (Selwyn et al., 2019). 

Lack of Openness in Open Education

Open is a concept that is generally accepted as a given in open education because it is in its name. But like all things that are delivered online is not true. We live in an age where we desire the things we read and learn to be open for us to access. However, online delivery of information can never truly be open because of barriers that have been put in place such as censorship, bias, and hate are all examples which prevent open education from truly being open (Singh., 2015).

Overview

I strongly believe that open education can never reach true openness and equity but this is solely due to the design for how the internet and technology are designed. With this said I do believe that open education can and will make vast improvements to improve these areas just by looking at the direction that it is going right now.

References:

Selwyn, N., Hillman, T., Eynon, R., Ferreira, G., Knox, J., Macgilchrist, F., & Sancho-Gil, J. M. (2019). What’s next for Ed-Tech? Critical hopes and concerns for the 2020s. Learning, Media and Technology, 1–6. https://edtechuvic.ca/edci339/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/03/What-s-next-for-Ed-Tech-Critical-hopes-and-concerns-for-the-2020s.pdf

singh, sava. (2015). THE FALLACY OF “OPEN.” In Open at the margins: Critical perspectives on open education. essay.