Page - 73 - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

5 WhoBenefits fromthePublicGood… 77 their risks and potentialities and the importance of having awell developed politi- cal andpedagogical vision.Without this, there is a risk that projectsmaynaturally align themselves indirections thatmaydiverge fromwhatwasoriginally intended. We continue below, with further examples that exemplify the tensions within the discoursearoundOER. 5.3.1 OERandOligopolies Thefact thatOERmayappeal todifferentperspectivesandeconomicinterestshelps usexplainhowthemovementhasdivergedglobally.Themotivationforeducational changeisoftenassociatedwiththeconservatismofeducationalinstitutions,portrayed astraditionalandlethargic—andalwaysatargetforradicalchange.Criticsoftenpoint tooldpractices, inefficiency, and the resistance inupdatingpracticesasevidenceof the lackofalignmentof formaleducation tocontemporarydemands.Weller (2015) contextualizesthisoldandrecurringcritique,aspartofthe“SiliconValleynarrative”, pointsoutthattheargumentthat“educationisbroken”hasbecomesuchanacceptable pointofview, that ithas thesemblanceofhard truth (Weller,2015,p.2).Accepting this perspective opens up a path to “disruptive” change in contrast to incremental change ineducation. Still, the educational literature demonstrates that, in fact, incremental change seemstothemostconsistentpathtoeducationalchange(Tyack&Cuban,1997),and that the conservative nature of these institutions is only one side of the coin. Inbar (1996)argues that sincepublic educationhashigh levelofpermanence, guaranteed byaconstant influxofstudents, fundingandlegislation, itmight lead indeedtocon- servatismandinaction.Ontheotherhand, thesesameguaranteescreate institutional safety,whichcanand(inmanycasesdoes) lead toan interest in innovation,change, andexperimentation—butperhapsnot as“disruptive”as somemightwish. RadicalactionisbestexemplifiedbyaSiliconValleymotto:“movefastandbreak things”whichDanaBoydrecentlycharacterizedas“…anabomination ifyourgoal is tocreate ahealthy society” (Boyd,2019).Thismentality isoftenassociatedwith the startup culture and the ecosystem surroundwhat Smyrnaios (2016) considers and oligopoly perpetuated through large sums of capital and intellectual property: Google,Amazon, Facebook,Apple eMicrosoft (GAFAM).Their aggressive focus on thismarket canbeseen inall levelsof formaleducationaround theworld.7 Singer(2017)indicatesthat,accordingtoGoogle,morethanhalfofallelementary school students in the United States (more than 30million children) use Google applications,criticizingwhatshecalls“Googlification”of theclassroom.Brazilhas moved inasimilardirection.There isdata that indicatesasimilar scenario inBrazil 7Within the#GoOpenprogramin theUSA, the implementationguidediscusses theuseofGoogle applications, see:https://tech.ed.gov/open/.