Open education.

I was introduced to open education during my first learning technologies course last fall, though I was aware of the creative commons and have, on occasion, used photos from sites such as Pexels and Unsplash. I was not aware of the various types of open licenses or the repositories, though I wonder how much I have unwittingly been exposed to, or used. For me, it’s a bit like being in my middle school science classes and trying to imagine the solar system, cellular biology, or atoms; just relying on line drawings to understand the vastness or not-visible aspect- it’s really hard to wrap my mind around the possibilities and scoop up what parts could apply to me in my current setting. 

While I was perusing the resources for this module around open education, I got a bit nostalgic and compared open education resources to the role of the public library, pre-internet. Certainly not the same as open education activities available online, but maybe more accessible by the fact that a library card was free and there was usually a friendly librarian to assist with searches for information? I ponder the cost and availability of internet service and the cost of devices needed to get on the internet, and wonder how it compares, accessibility-wise. Beyond these base needs though, the internet has provided limitless opportunity for open education. 

Then I moved on to the knowledge equity resources. And thought about how libraries of the past contained tomes of objective knowledge versus “other ways of knowing”. (On further reflection, I can see how public libraries today are addressing this by hosting events and widening what they offer.) The idea of knowledge equity creates some friction in my mind when I think about higher ed institutions, what is valued, and the literal cost of attending. And the spot I work in higher ed, working in the “arm” of the university (Extension) who’s tasked with “improving the quality of people's lives by providing research-based knowledge to strengthen the social, economic and environmental well-being of families, communities and agriculture enterprises.” (From usda) It seems like we (my colleagues and I) are so slowly making our way, reconciling other ways of knowing and indigenous knowledge with the objective knowledge and “research-based.” Research-based is all good, if we keep in mind who researched it and for whom, and the frame of reference.