Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration

The definition of openness influenced the sustainability of business models of Open Education (OE). Yet, whether openness is defined as the free (re)usage of resources, or the free entry in courses, there always is a discussion on who pays for the resources used in these offerings. The free offerin...

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Autor principal:	Frank de Langen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2018
Materias:	open education MOOCs DOCCs business models collaboration OpenupEd Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c832cb48c4a94be181e96578f4193fd2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c832cb48c4a94be181e96578f4193fd22021-12-02T19:26:10ZSustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration10.19173/irrodl.v19i5.35481492-3831https://doaj.org/article/c832cb48c4a94be181e96578f4193fd22018-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3548https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 The definition of openness influenced the sustainability of business models of Open Education (OE). Yet, whether openness is defined as the free (re)usage of resources, or the free entry in courses, there always is a discussion on who pays for the resources used in these offerings. The free offering of courses or materials raises the question if OE can be maintained independent of large government subsidies. This article analyzes four cases that each have a different approach to OE and (financial) survival. The aim of this study is to determine the most efficient conditions for a sustainable OE business model. Instead of using different earning models, this research concentrates on the different aspects of unbundling (costs, income, and financiers), arguing that an adjusted Business Model Canvas can be used to analyze the not-for-profit organizations in higher education institutions (HEIs). The cases are OpenupEd, FemTechNet, MERLOT, and Lumen Learning. Openness plays different roles in the business models of the different organizations. For OpenupEd and MERLOT, openness of the materials offered to students and teachers (MOOCs, OER) is essential. For FemTechNet, openness is part of the need to collaborate and share within their community. Commercial organizations, such as Lumen Learning, use free materials to teach educational organizations to use these materials for their own courses. All four organizations use different key activities and key resources (for example, management competencies, social skills, or design and teaching skills) for their continuity. Yet, despite the differences between the case-organizations, community building is important in all cases. Either because producers and users of Open Education become identical, because standardization does decrease costs and increases findability and quality, or because they can bridge the difference between supply and competences necessary for usage of Open Education. Frank de LangenAthabasca University Pressarticleopen educationMOOCsDOCCsbusiness modelscollaborationOpenupEdSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 19, Iss 5 (2018)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	open education MOOCs DOCCs business models collaboration OpenupEd Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	open education MOOCs DOCCs business models collaboration OpenupEd Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Frank de Langen Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
description	The definition of openness influenced the sustainability of business models of Open Education (OE). Yet, whether openness is defined as the free (re)usage of resources, or the free entry in courses, there always is a discussion on who pays for the resources used in these offerings. The free offering of courses or materials raises the question if OE can be maintained independent of large government subsidies. This article analyzes four cases that each have a different approach to OE and (financial) survival. The aim of this study is to determine the most efficient conditions for a sustainable OE business model. Instead of using different earning models, this research concentrates on the different aspects of unbundling (costs, income, and financiers), arguing that an adjusted Business Model Canvas can be used to analyze the not-for-profit organizations in higher education institutions (HEIs). The cases are OpenupEd, FemTechNet, MERLOT, and Lumen Learning. Openness plays different roles in the business models of the different organizations. For OpenupEd and MERLOT, openness of the materials offered to students and teachers (MOOCs, OER) is essential. For FemTechNet, openness is part of the need to collaborate and share within their community. Commercial organizations, such as Lumen Learning, use free materials to teach educational organizations to use these materials for their own courses. All four organizations use different key activities and key resources (for example, management competencies, social skills, or design and teaching skills) for their continuity. Yet, despite the differences between the case-organizations, community building is important in all cases. Either because producers and users of Open Education become identical, because standardization does decrease costs and increases findability and quality, or because they can bridge the difference between supply and competences necessary for usage of Open Education.
format	article
author	Frank de Langen
author_facet	Frank de Langen
author_sort	Frank de Langen
title	Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
title_short	Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
title_full	Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
title_fullStr	Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
title_full_unstemmed	Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration
title_sort	sustainability of open education through collaboration
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2018
url	https://doaj.org/article/c832cb48c4a94be181e96578f4193fd2
work_keys_str_mv	AT frankdelangen sustainabilityofopeneducationthroughcollaboration
_version_	1718376524499910656

Sustainability of Open Education Through Collaboration

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