![](images/open_education3.jpg)
Evolution
Evolution of Open Education
Open education is the modern approach and an alternative to conventional education.
Evolution of Open Education
Benefits of Open Education
The idea of closed education is that it was characterized as a system reserved for the elites and kept away from the marginalized for significant periods.
Open education is available to everyone, is not limited by geographical boundaries, and is also free of financial constraints in some or other way.
Today open education has taken the form of online education and open education resources, complementing the technological revolution.
Open education is mainly centered around the idea of providing flexibility in the field of education. It does not involve the day to day physical classroom interaction or the paper pen format.
Open education is very different than traditional place-based institutional courses; many students who opt for the latter aim to earn a degree that may or may not be of their choice. Whereas, in open learning, the pursuant wants to learn and gather new information, regardless of earning a degree.
Although open education in the form of online education is widely available and accessible, accessibility is not equal to opportunity because quality education is the ultimate requirement. The gap between quality and education is bridged as more reputed institutes are paving the way for free-open education.
Open Educational Resources serve as the backbone of the open education system. If we are talking about going all-digital, then the optimal amount of resources should be available to back the idea.
Open Educational Resources are online resources that can be accessed freely; millions of educational data, research papers, various published reports can be accessed on the go. All you need is a good and secure internet connection. To set up one you should access your router admin by using the 192.168.0.1 IP address.
It serves as a transparent channel between the source and the user of the information.
Do you wonder why is open education needed? Why is there so much stress on open or online education?
It traces back to the history of education, there were times where racial segregation, gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and marginalized community discrimination was practiced when it came to providing or assimilating quality education.
The UNESCO states that access to quality and timely education is the right of every individual. The emergence of open universities in the USA and the world, accepting aspiring students of different communities, brought a much-needed revolution in the education field.
Open education was coupled and boosted by the emergence of online platforms like Edx, Coursera, and Khan Academy, which brought top-quality, affordable educational courses in various departments like science, economics, math, liberal studies and arts, computer technology, and management for all.
Open education is not just about a bunch of textbooks, videos, pdfs, or research papers; today, open education has become synonymous with human rights, progress, equal opportunity, and prosperity.
As responsible citizens of the USA, we must contribute to open education and its resources in some or other way and also bring more awareness to the need for education for all.