From Openness to Permeability: Reframing Open Education in Terms of Positive Liberty in the Enactment of Academic Practices
ARTICLE
Martin Oliver
Learning, Media and Technology Volume 40, Number 3, ISSN 1743-9884
Abstract
This paper explores the idea of open education, focusing specifically on the concept of openness. Previous discussions of open education are reviewed, using Knox's discussion of "unfreedoms" as a critical lens. Contrasts are then drawn with the concept of "flexibility", to illustrate ways in which openness could be developed. This leads to consideration of ideas from sociomaterial theory, focusing on networks and boundaries. A case study is then used to illustrate how these new developments play out empirically. The discussion then elaborates this in terms of ideas about mobility and fluidity. The paper concludes by arguing that the simplistic binary implied by "openness" is largely irrelevant to the academic practices of teachers and learners. It is proposed that, instead, it should be replaced by a version that recognises the way individuals use infrastructures in pursuit of positive liberty. Such an alternative would help account for the various ways in which Universities are permeated by the personal, and "vice versa".
Citation
Oliver, M. (2015). From Openness to Permeability: Reframing Open Education in Terms of Positive Liberty in the Enactment of Academic Practices. Learning, Media and Technology, 40(3), 365-384. Retrieved August 13, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/158684/.
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Cited By
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Mapping the open education landscape: citation network analysis of historical open and distance education research
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Open Praxis Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr 20, 2018) pp. 109–126
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Striving Toward Openness: But What Do We Really Mean?
Vivien Rolfe, University of the West of England
The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 18, No. 7 (Nov 29, 2017)
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Faculty Perception of Openness and Attitude to Open Sharing at the Indian National Open University
Santosh Panda, Staff Training & Research Institute, Indira Gandhi National Open University, India., India; Sujata Santosh
The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Vol. 18, No. 7 (Nov 29, 2017)
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For whom, and for what? Not-yetness and thinking beyond open content
Amy Collier & Jen Ross
Open Praxis Vol. 9, No. 1 (Mar 31, 2017) pp. 7–16
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