The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides

Openness has been a feature of higher education for many decades, particularly through the establishment of open universities, although there remain debates about what openness means in practice. Digital technologies, some based on open principles, and digital content, aided by open licences, have b...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Andy Lane
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2009
Materias:	open learning higher education e-learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f531136c2458410dabfa2779e5f6757f
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:f531136c2458410dabfa2779e5f6757f
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f531136c2458410dabfa2779e5f6757f2021-12-02T19:25:29ZThe Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides10.19173/irrodl.v10i5.6371492-3831https://doaj.org/article/f531136c2458410dabfa2779e5f6757f2009-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/637https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831Openness has been a feature of higher education for many decades, particularly through the establishment of open universities, although there remain debates about what openness means in practice. Digital technologies, some based on open principles, and digital content, aided by open licences, have both contributed recently to an extension of what is deemed possible under the heading of openness. Nevertheless, while in principle there may be greater degrees of openness available in higher education it does not mean in practice that many people can still readily avail themselves of these new opportunities to learn, not just because they do not have access to digital technologies but personal circumstances mean they also lack the necessary skills and the confidence to use such technologies in general or for education in particular. In fact it can be argued that this new openness, characterised mainly through the open educational resources movement, may actually widen rather than bridge the digital and educational divides between groups, both within and across national boundaries, through the increasing sophistication in technologies and the competencies expected of learners. This paper reviews some of the evidence supporting these different areas of interest and attempts to provide a synthesis of them. It then argues that actions may be required by many inter-mediaries to help to reduce the diverse social and cultural digital divides within education, including through the mediated use of open educational resources between teachers and learners.Andy LaneAthabasca University Pressarticleopen learninghigher educatione-learningSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 10, Iss 5 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	open learning higher education e-learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	open learning higher education e-learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Andy Lane The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
description	Openness has been a feature of higher education for many decades, particularly through the establishment of open universities, although there remain debates about what openness means in practice. Digital technologies, some based on open principles, and digital content, aided by open licences, have both contributed recently to an extension of what is deemed possible under the heading of openness. Nevertheless, while in principle there may be greater degrees of openness available in higher education it does not mean in practice that many people can still readily avail themselves of these new opportunities to learn, not just because they do not have access to digital technologies but personal circumstances mean they also lack the necessary skills and the confidence to use such technologies in general or for education in particular. In fact it can be argued that this new openness, characterised mainly through the open educational resources movement, may actually widen rather than bridge the digital and educational divides between groups, both within and across national boundaries, through the increasing sophistication in technologies and the competencies expected of learners. This paper reviews some of the evidence supporting these different areas of interest and attempts to provide a synthesis of them. It then argues that actions may be required by many inter-mediaries to help to reduce the diverse social and cultural digital divides within education, including through the mediated use of open educational resources between teachers and learners.
format	article
author	Andy Lane
author_facet	Andy Lane
author_sort	Andy Lane
title	The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
title_short	The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
title_full	The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
title_fullStr	The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
title_full_unstemmed	The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides
title_sort	impact of openness on bridging educational digital divides
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/f531136c2458410dabfa2779e5f6757f
work_keys_str_mv	AT andylane theimpactofopennessonbridgingeducationaldigitaldivides AT andylane impactofopennessonbridgingeducationaldigitaldivides
_version_	1718376594738774016

The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides

Ejemplares similares