The term “open learning” is used to describe learning situations in which learners have the flexibility to choose from a variety of options in relation to the time, place, instructional methods, modes of access, and other factors related to their learning processes.
There’s a mounting pressure on today’s colleges and universities to demonstrate their worth. As tuition costs continue to climb, affordability is becoming a bigger barrier to access in higher education.
In response, dozens of institutions are rethinking how they deliver education by democratizing access to textbooks, lesson plans, and even courses themselves. It’s a movement called open learning that enables students to have greater control over what they learn, where, and when.
The goal of open learning is to broaden access to education, which can be done in a variety of ways.
- Open courses
- Open educational resources
- Open pedagogies (the method and practice of teaching)
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Open learning is based on independent study or initiative rather than formal classroom instruction. Many large university institutions are now starting to offer free or almost free full courses, through open education, such as Harvard, MIT and Berkeley. Other universities offering open education are prestigious private universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Duke, Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, and Caltech, as well as notable public universities including Tsinghua, Peking, Edinburgh, University of Michigan, and University of Virginia.
Open educational resources (OER) also enable students to tap into and explore a field of study in a more approachable, cost-effective way.
Open education has been called the biggest change in the way people learn since the printing press. Despite favorable studies on effectiveness, many people may still desire to choose traditional campus education for social and cultural reasons.
Many open universities are working to have the ability to offer students standardized testing and traditional degrees and credentials.
The conventional merit-system degree is currently not as common in open education as it is in campus universities, although some open universities do already offer conventional degrees such as the Open University in the United Kingdom. Presently, many of the major open education sources offer their own form of certificate.
A 2010 meta-analysis found that online and blended educational approaches had better outcomes than methods that used solely face-to-face interaction.
Open learning is helping democratize education, by making it more affordable, accessible, and attainable to students, no matter their location or income level. It also helps students explore new industries before investing in an often costly, more formal education. Every professional can pursue lifelong learning in an open education system.
