The two readings delineate the history and context of distributed and open learning. It is surprising, as my pod mate Alex has mentioned in his post, how early the two concepts are despite the fact that we hear them more today, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic.

I find the topic on enrollment most interesting in the context of open learning, as mentioned by Major (2015). I remember wanting to take computer science courses at UVic but being deterred by the fact that I needed certain prerequisites to be eligible to enroll. One of the prerequisites, especially for the higher-level courses, was that I needed to be a computer science major. There were a lot of restrictions and reservations when someone just wanted to take the course for his or her self-fulfillment. However, with open enrollment with the development of MOOCs, it is possible for students like myself to develop their interests in a field without having to worry about credits (Major, 2015). After the initial failure of not being able to register for computer science courses at UVic, I turned to Codecamedy instead. I feel that by making education more democratic, MOOCs allow more “openness, diversity, autonomy, and connectivity” (Major, 2015, p. 80).

It is also interesting to see that the modes of education have changed over the years. As mentioned by Major (2015), the xMOOCs started out very similar to traditional pedagogy in terms of the course structure. My teammate Ziyu has also commented on the fuzziness of categorization and terminology, which can make it difficult for educators to design and structure their courses. I also agree when she said that there are limitations to the reach of technology, especially in courses that do require in-person interactions. I have a friend who has to take some of his physical computing classes online due to the pandemic. He complained about how difficult it was for him to seek help from his instructor. He had to take multiple videos when he needed to ask questions. He had to also replay videos from his instructors multiple times while having to struggle with guessing the steps when certain actions were blocked. However, I also believe that with the advancement of even more technology, such as virtual reality, these obstacles could be omitted. The second reading also addresses how open learning is still constantly evolving (Jordan & Weller, 2017). This means that we still have a long way to go.

My teammate Valerie also talked about the financial benefits of open learning. When most universities turned to online teaching during the pandemic, many international students who have to pay a higher tuition wonder if an education like this would be worthwhile. I knew many students who have chosen to take semesters off because they did not see the value. With many open and online courses offered by Ivy League universities on Coursera, education has become more competitive rather than monopolistic. There may come a future where a college/university education is no longer necessary.

References

Jordan, K. & Weller, M. (2017). Openness and Education: A beginners’ guide. Global OER Graduate Network

Major, C. H. (2015). Teaching Online – A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=3318874 (pp. 76-108)