OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES: INTERPRETATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

In view of my previous publications on Open Distance E-Learning (ODeL) and further developments in Open Education Resources (OERS) or Free/libre Open Source Software (FLOSS), some serious discussions between colleagues and myself stimulated me to publish a few thoughts on this matter. According to the literature, OERS/FLOSS is open and free to use except for quoting it without recognition to the author or selling it. However, learners and researchers and lecturers can copy as much as they want for academic training purposes. It is not like a text book in the library which has restricted copyrights to prevent poorer learners to copy instead of buying a textbook. It could also be downloaded almost anywhere in the world. In fact, authors who are prepared to publish OERS, actually want people to read their work. The core idea is to share knowledge. Knowledge is open. As long as the user respects intellectual property.

Political and educational concerns are that OERS is a form of socialism and enhances liberated educational practices without rules and regulations. Too much individual freedom may create an undisciplined situation where the lecturer or teacher or researcher loose control. Open education also implies open access. No deadlines for enrolment and learners could also be co-responsible to design their own curriculum, i.e to skip irrelevant work. Organise your own time table and shift assessment dates according to personal circumstances. It should be absolutely users friendly for the learner and where the client is always right. A human friendly system that does not discriminate against the user, researcher, teacher nor learner or potential applicants for any institution of learning. Bridging courses, recognition of prior learning skills, mobility from one institution to another, horizontal or vertical articulation of open courses and programme mixes are the main keywords and concepts...A real utopia for learning and teaching !