Value of being open

Over the last week I’ve spent a significant amount of time at 2 major conferences – OER16 and LAK16. A series of 3 conferences were running back to back at Edinburgh and like many others I took the opportunity to do a deep dive and attend more than one. I saw many of the same faces at each conference and inevitably there were themes that started to run through them all.

My major takeaway has been the value of openness. Making educational resources available for many purposes using Creative Commons licenses, building software and infrastructure using open source technologies and licenses, being open about the algorithms we use to evaluate our students’ online activities, being transparent about what data we collect and why, being open and inclusive about the development of standards that will allow us to work better together, all of this activity requires a commitment to being open. Open to scrutiny, open to challenge, open to collaboration, open to cooperation, and open to being part of a community.

("Open sign vintage style" by Wicker Paradise CC BY 2.0)

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