Page - 117 - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

124 F.Nascimbeni madeanumberofprocessestypicalofthelearningvaluechainmoreefficient, thanks to approaches such asmobile learning, learning analytics or personalised learning (Bates,2015).Ontheotherhand,newdevelopmentssuchas theemergenceofOpen Educational Resources (OER) or the use of social networks for teaching are fos- teringpedagogic innovation,movingaway fromtraditional lecture-baseddynamics towards open andnetworked teachingpractices (Kyndt et al., 2013;VanLeeuwen, Janssen,Erkens,&Brekelmans,2013). Inorder foruniversities toadapt to thesechangesand tobeable tomaintain their relevancewithin society,many aspects of higher education need to be restructured (Sledge&DoveyFishman,2014),startingwiththeroleofeducators(Pearce,Weller, Scanlon,&Kinsley,2010). “The threekeyelementsofdigital, networkedandopen convergemost significantly around the production, pedagogy and delivery of edu- cation” (Weller, 2012, p. 85).The role of educators, traditionally considered as the experts taskedwith communicating thenecessarybodiesofknowledge to students, isbeingquestionedbyeducational researchers,whotendto increasinglydefineedu- cators as co-travellers,mediators or facilitators. Connectivism emerged as a new educational theorysupporting theseclaims.This theoryconsiders that thespreadof ICTandthederivingopenandnetworkedpedagogicapproachesarechallengingtra- ditionalschemeswithineducationsystems,and, inparticular, theideathateducators aretheonlyonesentitledtoproduceanddeliverknowledge(Siemens,2004;Downes, 2012;Rivoltella&Rossi, 2012). “Since the distributed andnetworked structure of knowledge in the digital age challenges the traditional viewof educationdelivered within theborders of school, strict timeperiods andcontent, the roleof the teacher hasbeenredefined in thecontextof theconnectivistparadigmto includenetworked learningenvironments” (Ozturk,2015,p.6). 8.2 Setting theTarget:CollaborativeandOpenTeaching Inorder tobetter understand thenewroleofuniversity educators aswell as to start defining the competences that they shouldmaster to fill their function effectively andresponsibly,wewill start fromtwoeducationalapproaches:collaborative learn- ing and open education. These approaches have been existing since humanbeings started to reflect on teaching and learning, and are increasingly gaining ground in contemporaryopenandnetworkedsocieties.Collaborative learning is about learn- ersworking together tounderstandconcepts, todevelopprojects, to solveproblems andultimately tocreateknowledge. Ifproperlymanaged,collaborative learninghas thepotential tofosterthestrengthsofindividualstudentswhilebuildingfundamental skills suchas teamwork,problem-solvingandempathy (Kyndtet al., 2013).Within thisapproach,peer–to-peer learningisparticularlyimportant,sinceitengageslearn- ers in thesameworkingprocessesprovidingthemwithopportunities to teachandbe taughtbyoneanother(Williamsetal.,2011).Openeducationdealswithopeningup thedifferentcomponentsof theeducationalprocess(Weller,2014),makingsurethat allnecessarybarrierstolearningareremoved.Thechangebroughtbyopeneducation