The Open University
http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/
Open
Education is an international movement about making educational resources
freely and openly available for educators and students to use, modify, and
share for teaching and learning. It is mainly about expanding educational
opportunities worldwide free of charge. Institutions and individuals are
increasingly sharing digital learning and teaching resources over the internet
without cost. One such place that is in agreement is the Open University.
The
Open University's mission is to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.
The OU promotes educational
opportunity and social justice by providing high-quality university education
to all who wish to realize their ambitions and fulfil their potential. The OU
was founded to open up higher education to all, regardless of their
circumstances or where they live. The OU has students of all ages and
backgrounds: school students wanting experience of university-level study, students
who choose to begin their careers while they study for a degree, people wanting
to develop or update their skills, or change careers entirely, and retired
people wanting to explore new interests and keep mentally active.
Open to all: What is meant by
open admissions
Nearly all of the undergraduate courses have no formal entry
requirements, either prior qualifications or experience. The OU allows people
who have missed out on education to fulfil their potential and achieve a
university-level qualification.
Supporting students with
disabilities
The OU
has more disabled students than any other UK or European university: the flexible
nature of the OU and their experience in harnessing technology enables almost
12,500 people with a wide range of disabilities - including mental health
issues – to study with the university each year. The OU has an Access Centre
dedicated to ensuring that wherever possible students with disabilities are
provided with additional support to enable them to take part in every aspect of
university life. Support can range from special computer software to sitting
exams in their
own home, having a personal assistant at day or residential school, and advice
on available funding support.
Open access to the OU's learning
materials
As part of the OU’s mission they are making an increasing amount
of Open University teaching
and learning resources available free of charge to anyone with access to the internet,
no matter where in the world they live. The four biggest open access
schemes are:
The multi-award-winning website OpenLearn makes OU course material and other educational resources available free of charge to potential learners anywhere in the world. They don't need to register as students.
The Open University on iTunes U extracts from Open University broadcasts and teaching materials can be viewed on YouTube, along with videos on OU research and student life.
OUView on YouTube More than 15,000 research publications are now freely available to view and consult via Open Research Online, one of the largest university research collections in the UK.
The Open University has already begun to enhance adult education. The OU is living up to its mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas at any time and any place. There are no boundaries. Open education has arrived at a time when dissatisfaction with the way some courses are taught in higher education is growing. The cost of education is going up and dropout rates are climbing. New technologies are bringing online tools that are completely reshaping the industry. Such entities as the OU may not solve the major issues around expanding higher education in and around the globe but they might be able to entice public and private universities to follow the trend and develop online learning and more open educational resources.
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