Ipsa scientia potestas est

Francis Bacon’s Meditationes Sacrae (1597)

What

Throughout the history of open and distributed learning, one thing is certain; people, whenever possible seek to enhance their understanding of the world by gaining access to education. That knowledge gained is power, and that power enables a literate and enlightened population to accomplish tasks, historically only those with access to specified knowledge were able to achieve. This is exemplified throughout history in On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction by Peter and Deimann (2013). Whether in the middle ages, the renaissance, or the 20th century; the general populace has sought open education to expand their access to knowledge. This phenomenon continues to be prevalent today, and with the advent of technological advancements, it is easier than ever to access information on a scale unprecedented throughout history. 

Martin Weller (2018) conveniently outlines the journey many of us have taken through the more recent developments in this open educational technological paradigm shift in Twenty Years of Edtech. People are still in search of knowledge, but the mechanism for acquisition has changed a great deal. From e-learning, to blogging, social media, MOOCs, YouTube and more, open education is within the reaches of the masses on an astounding level. In fact, growing up with this access has afforded me luxuries of knowledge previous generations were not privy to. 

So What

On a personal level, after graduating with my second degree, my wife and I moved to a small town in Northern British Columbia. Unable to afford a house, as our careers were just beginning, we decided to build. This is a process that generally would have taken numerous trades experts, contractors, and probably would have cost as much or more than an older finished home. However, due to the availability of information online, I was able to build virtually every facet of our home including but not limited to the foundation, (I bought an old backhoe to help with this) framing, electrical, plumbing, roofing, and finishing. Throughout this process I had digital access to the British Columbia Building Codes, numerous professionals in every field willing to share their knowledge (courtesy of youtube) and the ability to search for any product in any part of the world I was interested in (thank you Google). 

On a professional level, my previous university degrees enabled me to teach in the areas of Social Studies, English, History, and Geography. Due to the availability of open education I was, however, able to acquire a great deal of knowledge outside of my chosen fields. That is, via searching for knowledge on the internet, I was able to train myself in the fields of Carpentry / Joinery, Metal Fabrication, and Mechanics. Ultimately, I acquired a teaching position in these fields and have been developing and modernizing these programs since, with guidance from access to open education. One such advancement included implementing a Computer Numerically Controlled program as part of our schools technical education. With help from digital and searchable information I was successfully able to learn the requisite g-coding and design skills to teach and engage students in a relevant, modern, and important field. 

Now What

As discussed in our EDCI 569 meeting on 03 December 2019, virtually every aspect of education has changed in recent years. The relationship that education has to open and distributed learning is significant. Many teachers are electing to exchange their old textbooks for more modern, digital resources. E-learning and distance education is at a pinnacle in many schools; if a program is not offered in a given school, a student can simply take the course via a digital distance learning platform. This is of great importance for students that live in rural settings, and helps to provide more access to learning for all. 

Due to these changes, the way students need to learn has also changed. With the ease of access to information and the benefits of project based inquiry learning, students are better equipped to pursue areas of passion. This consequently allows for individualization of education and results in the teacher acting in the capacity of a learning facilitator, rather than a direct instructor. Moving forward, my hope is to employ a cross curricular inquiry framework within our school where students are able to move from room to room – allowing them to incorporate multiple fields of information into their projects. Ultimately, if access to information is virtually unlimited, we need to ensure students have the requisite knowledge, research skills, and the freedom to access that information.