摘要：The release of free resources by the education sector has led to
reconsideration of how the open approach implied by Open Educational
Resources (OER) impacts on the educator and the learner. However this
work has tended to consider the replication of standard campus based
approaches and the characteristics of content that will encourage other
institutions and individuals to join in (Wiley, 2006), rather than the approach
to open learning itself and the changes that embracing openness imply. This
paper will look at the experience of acting as an open university over 40
years, and how the understanding of the concept of openness has changed
in the last 10 years by considering changes in how we view learners. The
Open University was built on open concepts that allow learners to avoid
barriers to study and successfully enabled more than 2 million people to
experience formal higher education. However the openness that applied to
the Open University did not cover all aspects that might be commonly
assumed - such as free access, choice of start times, global availability.
Offering free access to some material online has shown the impact that
openness can have on learners and identified a range of behaviours that
cluster around content driven and social driven approaches to learning. A
combined view that considers the original values of open attached to The
Open University alongside the emerging view from OER gives us the
opportunity and driver for revising our view of openness and developing a
position that helps bridge between formal and informal learning.
关键词：Open Educational Resources; OER; Open University; Higher Education
