Page - 8 - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

8 M. Weller Table1.1 Theprimary drivers for different areasof open education Areaof open education Primarydriver Open, distanceeducation Removal of barriers tohigher education E-learning Deliveryof education and support online Open education in schools Physical spaces, inclusion OER Reuse, access to teachingcontent MOOCs Freeaccess tocontent Socialmedia Sharing of ideas OA publishing Reuse, access to research content OEP Sharing of process and content is,however,alsoa termthathasmultiple interpretations,withCroninandMacLaren (2018) identifying four distinct strands of OEP definition. This generality, or ambi- guity, means that it encompasses both the research and teaching remits of higher education, and thus does not form a distinct cluster. In terms of opening access to education,OEPcanbeviewedthenasmotivatedbybothadesire to removebarriers to education, and also to open up the process of education, by sharing data, content and blurringboundaries between academic institutionsand thegeneral public. TheeightareasidentifiedinFig.1.2canbesummarisedasforegroundingdifferent aspects of open access. For example, for open learning, the key component is the removal of barriers to participation in higher education, whereas, for OER, it is the ability to reuse and access content that is of primary importance, while MOOCs highlight the freecostof study.Theseprimarydrivers foreachof theeightareasare summarised inTable 1.1 WhatTable1.1highlightsisthatopenaccesstoeducationcomesinmanydifferent forms,andwithdifferingintentions.Nooneinterpretationis‘correct’butrathertheir suitability will vary depending on the aims of the institution, educator and learner. However, thismultiplicityofdefinitions, intentionsandoutcomescanbedetrimental to the open movement as it makes the term ‘open’ so broad as to be meaningless. What is required therefore is a conceptual model to combine these approaches in manner that is meaningful for higher education institutions. 1.3 AModel for Openness Orr,WellerandFarrow(2019)proposesuchamodel, combiningopen,online,flex- ible and technology-enhanced (OOFAT) aspects of education. The model needed to provide sufficient structure to provide a meaningful analysis, while being broad enoughtocapturetherangeofopenapproacheswehaveseen.Inordertoaccomplish this, theconceptual model abstracts higher education tocore functions.