Page - v - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

Foreword byRoryMcGreal Open science is a new concept arising out of the exponential growth in access to abundant scientific knowledge via the Internet and theWorldWideWeb in par- ticular. This book is about openness and radical change.DanielBurgos, theEditor, has awell-respected track record in supporting openness, and so iswell positioned to ensure the relevance of the contributions in this volume. It is often said that the only peoplewho are desirous of change arewet babies. So, for educators living in this rapidly changing twenty-first century, acceptance of the realities of changemaycomewith difficulty. In this book, thewriters are not only desirous of change, but are also active proponents of openness, trusting that it will radically disrupt the established order in education, much to the chagrin of comfortable traditionalist instructors. Such rapid change in education has not always been the case. The roots of scienceandscienceeducationareplanted in the realityofknowledge scarcity rather thanopenness.WhenHeroofAlexandria, amathematician, physicist andengineer, worked in the great library in the first century, other scientists and students could not accesshisknowledgewithoutmeetingdirectlywithhim ina roomin the library (possibly the first classroom). His works later became available on scrolls, which were laboriously and expensively reproduced. They could then be distributed to other centres in a very limitedway. This limited access to knowledge was improved somewhat with the printing press and other developments, but real openness has only become possible now with the cornucopia of accessible knowledge available online to anyone anywhere whohas an Internet connexion.Today, anyonewith amobile phone can access the Internet at a reasonable price in most countries. More than 90% of the world’s population reside in communitieswithmobile access andmost people have access to a mobile device. Of course there are limitations of language, culture and prior education; nevertheless, this represents an explosion in scientific openness. Open Science is now supported by many if not most governments. Today researchers who receive grants from government agenciesmust place their papers online and have them accessible to the public. This has disrupted the educational publishing industrywhichhas for longbeenhighlyprofitablebecause theywere the v