Open Access, Open Education, Open Minds

Abstract

The culture of “Open” has a great deal to offer educators as they struggle to redefine teaching and learning in the context of ubiquitous connectivity, social media, and collaborative knowledge creation. The social web has empowered every person with internet access to publish & distribute information globally. No longer is “knowledge” owned and meted out by gatekeeper organizations. Commercial publishers of textbooks, academic journals, and educational software are increasingly challenged by free content that is being collaboratively developed by a distributed community of experts. The Open Access movement has convinced faculty members and academic libraries to reconsider traditional scholarly publishing models. The Open Textbook movement has exposed cheaper and more efficient ways to create, update, and distribute textbooks. The Open Courseware movement has successfully launched thousands of free online courses. The Open Data movement agitates to make government and other publicly funded data available freely online. This session aims to introduce the audience to the principles of Open Access, to summarize major post-secondary initiatives in this area, and to outline strategies for students and faculty who wish to participate in and support the movement towards Open Education.