Reimagining Open At The Crossroads
I’ve been deeply engaged in a couple of open education projects. In Europe I’m helping SPARC Europe with their Connecting the Worlds of Open Science and Open Education effort. In North America I’m helping the Open Education Network with a project to increase educational equity in higher education by developing models and guidance to help academic libraries formalize programs that support open education work at their institutions. Both projects are fascinating. I’m enjoying the teams involved and opportunities to dive deeply into these topics. I’m learning lots.
I’ve been quiet here with my blog. After last years intensive exploration of AI I took a pause. Over the course of my career I’ve been through many waves of technology aiming to enhance and disrupt education in positive ways. That trail is a long one with few successes and lots of failures well documented by Audrey Watters. AI feels like yet another over hyped technology that, so far at least, is over promising and under-delivering. AI seems not to have learned anything from the education technologies that came before it. I have little interest in furthering the AI hype cycle. However, I remain quietly interested in how AI is playing out in education, particularly open education.
The blog post I wrote on AI From An Open Perspective generated a lot of interest. But, recently I’ve found myself shifting to AI From a Commons Perspective. As I see it AI has appropriated a data commons with little to no regard for the commons or the norms associated with it. The sheer scale and blatant disregard is callous and yet another example of voracious capitalism exploiting a commons for profit. Not a good feeling if you work in the commons, your work is part of a commons, or you simply believe in the commons.
I was recently interviewed on the meaning of open artificial intelligence in education during which I suggested there is no “open” artificial intelligence in education. AI is not open. No matter what the companies say, or name themselves, the extent to which AI is “open” is limited. Even just what open means in the context of AI is being highly debated. (See here, here, here, here). I very much share the perspective of Luis Villa who both celebrates and mourns the data commons in his excellent My Commons Roller Coaster post. The lack of transparency and exploitive nature of current AI development is like a rotten apple at the bottom of the barrel. I find it hard to enjoy the fruit knowing what lies at the heart of it and the potential for full rot.
I’ve moved AI to the back burner - at least for now.
I moved Reimagining Open At The Crossroads to the front burner.
Garden Crossroads by Paul Stacey CC BY-SA
In March I attended the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) OER 2024 Conference in Cork Ireland. I found the keynote “The future isn’t what it used to be: Open education at a crossroads” delivered by Dr Catherine Cronin and Professor Laura Czerniewicz very thought provoking. The keynote was recorded and is available to watch on ALT’s YouTube channel. A keynote essay to accompany their keynote is available online here.
The keynote is divided into three sections: (I) The big picture, (II) Open education at a crossroads, and (III) Creating better futures. In their keynote Catherine and Laura issue a call to action and a framework for proceeding. After the conference I began to think it was possible to actually implement their call to action.
With Catherine and Laura’s encouragement I submitted a wild card proposal to the Open Education Global (OEGlobal) 2024 conference proposing a series of asynchronous online activities related to their call to action that I proposed take place during the weeks leading up the the OEGlobal 2024 conference in Brisbane. My proposal was accepted.
I devised a series of simple and fun activities which have launched in the OEGlobal 2024 Interaction Zone. There is an Introduction and a series of activities starting with Reimagining Open At The Crossroads Through Music.
Everyone is welcome to participate in these activities whether you are attending the OEGlobal 2024 conference or not.
The Reimagining Open at the Crossroads schedule of activities is:
Activity 1: Reimagining Open at the Crossroads Through Music 7, online launch date October 14, 2024. Open for your participation here 7.
Activity 2: What if? 1, online launch date October 21, 2024. Open for your participation here 1.
Activity 3: Make Claims, online launch date October 28, 2024.
Activity 4: Pathways and Connections, online launch date November 4, 2024. In person version will take place at the OEGlobal 2024 conference in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday, November 13th from 10:30-11:30 am.
Activity 5: Pathway Sharing. Online and in-person pathway outputs from activity 4 are invited to be posted here in OEGlobal 2024 Connect. Making pathways visible makes it possible to connect with others who are following the same path, both those in person attending the conference and those participating virtually. Connections can be made simply by replying to a shared pathway, providing a link to your pathway, and identifying points of mutual interest.
I hope you join us and through these activities and braid your reimagining open experiences, insights and aspirations with others.
