Open Up

Martin Weller mulls over the notion that the Open University or OU should call itself the Open U, with an emphasis on “open”:

Open Source

Open educational resources

Open API

Open content

Open courses

Open participation

In an inter-networked society, open is the only way to remain relevant. Most newspapers have realized this by opening their online versions. Closed archives don’t get the links from bloggers and others commenting on the news and so they get cut off from the global conversation. The Connectivism and Connected Knowledge course, with about 2,000 students is an example of  “openness”. Anyone can join, students can register for credit at the University of Manitoba, and folks like me can just lurk and learn informally.

One of the arguments against open models is that people need to get paid and openness usurps the pay-for-service model. Anyone working with open source software knows this is not correct and that money can be made around an open model. It’s just made in different ways and at different points in the value network.

I have promoted open source business models on this blog for almost five years and I’m finally starting to see some shifts in the educational market. I’m also quite certain that there’s still a lot of room for several variants on this business model, but competition for attention and relevance is increasing. If you’re in the education business, it’s time to open up.