Open education and society

The aim of this course is to present and explore the relationship of open education to economic development, cultural change, and democracy.

Students will acquire the following competences:

• Ability to identify and explore the links between open education and economic development, cultural changes and democracy;

• Understand open education as a historical, global and social movement;

• Ability to analyse or forsee the consequences in the state, local community, organisation or institution that applies open education principles in its policies or practices;

• Understand the theoretical underpinnings of the UN and UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the call for universal, quality education and its relationship to open education as a historical, global and social movement;

• Understand the relationship between the social objectives and the affordances of open education based on lower costs, open communities and practices;

• Identify and analyze potential positive and negative changes to existing institutions and develop socially appropriate and innovative uses of open education;

• Understand OE as seen by from the perspective of different actors and geopolitical realities.

• Compile a critical report with an analysis of a country, state or municipality, organization or institution that makes use of open education principles through policy or practice.

Students should be able to identify different strategies for the use of open education and identify a wide variety of open education projects, whether governmental, business or educational in nature. Students should be able to identify publicly available data sets, reports and cases to analyze the actual and potential impacts of open education on civil society and its institutions.

During this course, students will examine how and in what form, and with what limitations open education can contribute to social, economic, political and cultural development, particularly through the framework of UNESCO SDGs. By examining the implementation of open education in different contexts, countries and institutions, students will gather a critical perspective on the potentials of open education for social change.

The following topics will be explored in more detail:

• Frameworks for the use of open education

a. Universal access
b. Cost/benefit
c. Cultural preservation/minority language

• Examination of potential consequences of OE in different scenarios

• Social class, race, gender – inequality, inequity and open education

• North/south divide and geopolitical consequences

• MOOCs, higher-education, policy and society

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the goals of open education as a vehicle for economic and social improvement, including UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

• Identify the political, economic and social barriers, inequities and differences related to the achievement of SDGs;

• Identify current impacts on social situation, particularly in education, and predict possible future impacts;

• Identify varying uses of and responses to open education by governments, corporations and NGOs.

• Design a sample open education project corresponding to the needs of a specific sector of civil society.

Basic:

• Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Arinto, P. B. (2018). Adoption and Impact of OER in the Global South. African Minds. E-version
• Daniel, J. (2012). Making Sense of MOOCs: Musings in a Maze of Myth, Paradox and Possibility. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. Retrieved from E-version
• Grimmelmann, J. (2014). The Merchants of MOOCs. Seton Hall Law Review, 44, 1035–1049. E-version
• Weller, M. (2015). MOOCs and the silicon valley narrative. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2015(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.am E-version
• Warschauer, M. (2002). Reconceptualizing the digital divide. First Monday, 7(7). Retrieved from E-version
• Miao, F., Mishra, S., & McGreal, R. (2016). Open educational resources: policy, costs, transformation. UNESCO Publishing. E-version
• Amiel, T. (2013). Identifying Barriers to the Remix of Translated Open Educational Resources. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(3), 126–144. dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v14i1.1351 E-version
• Wiley, D. (2007). On the sustainability of open educational resource initiatives in higher education. OECD. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/9/38645447.pdf
• CERI. (2007). Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of open educational resources. Paris: OECD. E-version

Additional:

• Nyahodza, L., & Raju, R. (2017). Open Educational Resources within a Knowledge System for Achieving Quality Education SDG. E-version
• Tomaševski, K. (2001). Removing obstacles in the way of the right to education (Right to education primers) (p. 51). Lund, Sweden: Raoul Wallenberg Institute. E-version
• McGreal, R. (2017). Special Report on the Role of Open Educational Resources in Supporting the Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education Challenges and Opportunities. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(7). E-version

• Interim presentations • Final project

Dr Dominic Orr is a leader in digital transformation and socio-technical innovation, specializing in leveraging technology, data and open education to address complex social and educational challenges. With a background in social science and long-standing experience as a policy advisor for international organizations, including the OECD, UNESCO and the World Bank, he offers a distinctive perspective at the intersection of technology, society and human development, particularly in the field of education.
Since 2020, he has been a team lead in German Development Cooperation (GIZ), where he led the development of GIZ’s atingi digital learning platform, successfully growing it to serve over 1.5 million users across emerging markets, and now supports the African Union in rolling out inclusive, safe and enabling data governance frameworks across the African continent. His work focuses on strengthening country-led digital and data governance, working closely with African Union institutions and member states.
Dr Orr also holds an adjunct professorship in open education at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, where he teaches on the Master’s programme and supervises students in their research on digitalization, openness and education.

Izbrana bibliografija / Selected bibliography:
Orr, D. (2022). The Impact of International Organizations on the Field of Open, Distance, and Digital Education. In: Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_15-1

Janssen, B., Schuwer, R., Orr, D. (2023): Key policy issues in open educational resources. Background paper prepared for the 2023 Global education monitoring report: Technology in education. UNESCO. Available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386083.locale=en
Orr, D., Rimini, M., van Damme, D. (2015). Open Educational Resources - A catalyst for innovation. Paris. OECD. Available at https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2015/12/open-educational-resources_g1g5f73c/9789264247543-en.pdf