Introduction to Open Education

The aim of this course is to provide a broad overview of Open Education (OE) and enable understanding of basic concepts needed for the rest of the programme.

Students will

• understand the whole OE ecosystem, basic elements of OE including national and organisational policies, the main building blocks and actors, basic OE processes, the added value of OE, implications and obstacles in the process of implementing OE in national, local or organisational environment;

• learn to recognize and envision implications of introducing OE into traditional educational environments,

• understand how OE connects with the topics covered in the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Required prerequisits include fundamentals of information and communication technologies and basic understanding of educational environments

1) History and evolution of OE
2) Open education: values, concepts, pro-cesses, roles, organization
3) Obstacles: service quality, assessment, legal barriers, critical thinking
4) Basic of Open Educational Resources
5) Open Practices and Open Pedagogy

After completing this course, students will:

• Understand and master the complexity of OE ecosystem, OE vocabulary, basic concepts, organisational and value added models, OE processes and actors;

• Understands the role, functions and needed competences of a leader in OE;

• Be able to evaluate the readiness of the existing learning environments for OE;

• Be able to construct the basic OE implementation scenario in an exsisting educational environemnt;

• Be able to distinguish between good and bad OE practices;

• Reflect on performance in terms of introducing new OE use models.

• Aksoy, D. A., & KurSun, E. (2024). Behind the scenes: A critical perspective on GenAI and open educational practices. Open Praxis, 16(3), 457-470. E-version
• Andrade, A., Ehlers, U.-D., Caine, A., Carneiro, R., Conole, G., Kairamo, A.-K., …, Holmberg, C. (2011). Beyond OER: Shifting focus to open educational practices. Open Education Quality Initiative. E-version
• Bozkurt, A., Gjelsvik, T., Adam, T., Asino, T. I., Atenas, J., Bali, M., Blomgren, C., Bond, M., Bonk, C. J., Brown, M., Burgos, D., Conrad, D., Costello, E., Cronin, C., Czerniewicz, L., Deepwell, M., Deimann, M., DeWaard, H. J., Dousay, T. A., Ebner, M., Farrow, R., Gil-Jaurena, I., Havemann, L., Inamorato, A., Irvine, V., Karunanayaka, S. P., Kerres, M., Lambert, S., Lee, K., Makoe, M., Marín, V. I., Mikroyannidis, A., Mishra, S., Naidu, S., Nascimbeni, F., Nichols, M., Olcott. Jr., D., Ossiannilsson, E., Otto, D., Padilla Rodriguez, B. C., Paskevicius, M., Roberts, V., Saleem, T., Schuwer, R., Sharma, R. C., Stewart, B., Stracke, C. M., Tait, A., Tlili, A., Ubachs, G., Weidlich, J., Weller, M., Xiao, J., & Zawacki Richter, O. (2023). Openness in Education as a Praxis: From Individual Testimonials to Collective Voices. Open Praxis, 15(2), pp. 76–112. E-version
• Cox, G., & Trotter, H. (2017). An OER framework, heuristic and lens: Tools for understanding lecturers’ adoption of OER. Open Praxis, 9(2), 151. E-version
• Cronin, C., & MacLaren, I. (2018). Conceptualising OEP: A review of theoretical and empirical literature in Open Educational Practices. Open Praxis, 10(2), 127-143. E-version
• Hegarty, B. (2015). Attributes of open pedagogy: A model for using open educational resources. Educational Technology. Retrieved from E-version
• Miao, F., Mishra, S., Orr, D., & Janssen, B. (2019). Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies. UNESCO Publishing. E-version
• Schuwer, R. (25 March 2022). Open (Education | Educational (Resources | Practices) | Pedagogy | Science). Open Education – All Kinds of Information. E-version
• Schuwer, R., & Janssen, B. (2024). Let’s Get Practical! Two Frameworks to Improve Practices of Open Education. Open Praxis, 16(2), pp. 258–268. E-version
• Warso, S., & Keller, P. (15 September 2023). Open Source AI And The Paradox Of Open. Open Future. E-version
• Wiley, D., & Hilton III, J. L. (2018). Defining OER-Enabled Pedagogy. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(4). E-version

• Attendance and participation (20%)
• Read and annotate assignments using Hypothesis and participation in assignment discussions (30%)
• Summary of the Weekly Read Assignments submitted on MiTeam: (20%)
• Final presentation and website (30 %)

Professor Dr Ebba Ossiannilsson (Sweden) is an internationally recognised scholar, keynote
speaker, researcher, and strategic adviser whose work has consistently anticipated, informed, and
shaped major developments in higher education over the past three decades. During this time,
she has been at the forefront of advancing quality enhancement; open, online, and distance education;
lifelong learning; educational leadership; and, more recently, the ethical, trustworthy, human-
centred integration of artificial intelligence. Her work is distinguished by its ability to bridge
research, policy, and practice, contributing to educational innovation that is both academically
rigorous and socially responsible.

She is Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; Associate Professor of Open
Education Leadership at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia; and Founder of Ossiannilsson
Quality in Open Online Learning Consultancy. Throughout her career, she has supported governments,
universities, international organisations, and educational leaders to advance inclusive, sustainable,
future-oriented educational transformation. She has collaborated extensively with
UNESCO, the European Commission, the OECD, the International Council for Open and Distance
Education, EDEN Digital Learning Europe, the International Training Centre of the ILO, and numerous universities and international networks worldwide. She has published more than 300
scholarly works and has contributed to international research projects, policy development, quality
frameworks, and capacity-building initiatives that have influenced educational policy and practice
across the globe. Her work has gained particular recognition in China, where, by request, she
has published in Distance Education China. She also contributes to research funded by the 2024
Youth Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research of the Ministry of Education of China,
further strengthening her international research collaborations.

Throughout her career, Professor Ossiannilsson has combined visionary leadership with a deep
commitment to quality and innovation, guided by human values, openness, inclusion, equity, sustainability,
and human flourishing, ensuring that educational innovation remains grounded in ethical
values and societal impact. Her contributions have been recognised through numerous international
honours, including ICDE Honorary Membership (2025), the Open Education Global Leadership
Excellence Award, the SPARC Europe Open Education Champion Award, EDEN Digital
Learning Europe Senior Fellowship, and recognition as an Open Education Europe Ambassador.
Her current research explores human flourishing in the age of AI, leadership through uncertainty,
trustworthy AI, on-demand lifelong learning, and open, inclusive, sustainable educational ecosystems
that advance equitable transformation in higher education worldwide.

More detailed information available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebbaossiannilsson/

Izbrane objave / Selected bibliography
Bozkurt, A., Gjelsvik, T., Adam, T., Asino, T. I., Atenas, J., Bali, M., Blomgren, C., Bond, M., Bonk, C. J.,
Brown, M., Burgos, D., Conrad, D., Costello, E., Cronin, C., Czerniewicz, L., Deepwell, M., Deimann, M.,
DeWaard, H. J., Dousay, T. A., Ebner, M., Farrow, R., Gil-Jaurena, I., Havemann, L., Inamorato, A., Irvine, V.,
Karunanayaka, S. P., Kerres, M., Lambert, S., Lee, K., Makoe, M., Marín, V. I., Mikroyannidis, A., Mishra, S.,
Naidu, S., Nascimbeni, F., Nichols, M., Olcott. Jr., D., Ossiannilsson, E., Otto, D., Padilla Rodriguez, B. C.,
Paskevicius, M., Roberts, V., Saleem, T., Schuwer, R., Sharma, R. C., Stewart, B., Stracke, C. M., Tait, A., Tlili,
A., Ubachs, G., Weidlich, J., Weller, M., Xiao, J., & Zawacki Richter, O. (2023). Openness in Education as a
Praxis: From Individual Testimonials to Collective Voices. Open Praxis, 15(2), pp. 76–112. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.2.574
Ossiannilsson, E. (2026). From Distance to Openness, from Access to Agency: The Evolution, Lessons, and
Futures of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning for Inclusive, Scalable and Sustainable,
Education. Education@ETMA, 5(1), 29–45.
Ossiannilsson, E. (2024). Ecosystems for Online and Blended Learning to Promote Equity and Excellence. In:
Panda, S., Mishra, S., Misra, P.K. (eds) Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education. Springer,
Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-9388-4_2
Ossiannilsson, E. (2024). On the verge of a system transformation and the ecosystem of open
education. Education@ETMA June 2024 ISSN (Online) 2583-3928 Volume: 3 Issue 2: Article: 4
Ossiannilsson, E., Ulloa Cazarez, R. L., Goode, C., Mansour, C., & Martins, Gomes de Gusmão, C. (2024).
Artificial Intelligence Use to Empower the Implementation of OER and the UNESCO OER Recommendation.
Open Praxis, 16(2), pp. 237–257.
DOI: https://doi.org/10
Ossiannilsson, E. (2023).Open educational resources (OER) and some of the United Nations sustainable
development goals. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology. ISSN: 2056-4880.
Ossiannilsson, E. (2023). Open Educational Resources: A Catalyst for Social Justice and Equality. In: Olivier,
J., Rambow, A. (eds). Open Educational Resources in Higher Education. Future Education and Learning
Spaces. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8590-4_2
Ossiannilsson, E. (2021). Toward a Quality Framework for Open Educational Resources (OER): Application
of the TIPS and Kahn's Quality Frameworks. In B. H. Khan, S., Affouneh, S.H. Salha & Z. N. Khlaif (Eds.),
Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Implementation of E-Learning Frameworks (35-51). Hershey:
IGI Global.
Ossiannilsson, E. (2021). Quality Models for Open, Flexible, and Online Learning. Journal of Computer
Science Research.
Ossiannilsson, E. (2021). Toward a Quality Framework for Open Educational Resources (OER): Application
of the TIPS and Kahn's Quality Frameworks. In B. H. Khan, S., Affouneh, S.H. Salha & Z. N. Khlaif (Eds.),
Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Implementation of E-Learning Frameworks (35-51). Hershey:
IGI Global.
Ossiannilsson, E. (2012). Benchmarking e-learning in higher education. Lessons learned from international
projects. Doctoral dissertation. Oulu University, Finland.