Is Open Content Set to Revolutionize Online Courses?

In a report published today by The Guardian, Mandy Garner explains how European universities are about to adopt an open content policy. She writes: “The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Academy of Higher Education launch a £ 5.7 million pilot program to study the impact of open content and how to contextualize existing online material so everyone can understand. ” he. “What does this mean for online courses and for higher education in general?

In simple terms, open content for education means that conferences and seminars will be available to all, rather than just the students of the institutions that produce them. As a result, the concept of online study will become more attractive for institutions and students as the best course content will be available to all and comparable at the global level.

However, this could mean a lot more for higher education in general. Not only will the online content available be of higher quality due to global competition, but traditional courses will also be inclined to start incorporating more digital means into their structure. A probability that is corroborated by the tendency of current traditional degrees to have their own intranets and forums where students can apply for peer review work, etc.

Not surprisingly, open content for higher education is not new. As Garner explains, “Dutch universities, for example, have an open source initiative, mostly in English, and the University of Paris also uses open content.” 800 educational resources of nearly 100 teaching units have been set up. available from 11 member universities ParisTech Open CourseWare Consortium. ”

Perhaps less surprising, however, is that the United States has been ahead of the game of online education for years, “where thousands of courses have been offered by academic projects, including the MIT OpenCourseWare “. It seems that not only is the UK lagging behind in considering e-learning legitimate (US online courses are advertised on TV), but we are also performing worse than the rest of the world in regarding accessibility to higher education.