The potentials that leap out at me when I first came across the open education idea were: educators sharing ideas, educators sharpening their learning and teaching skills, and appearing cost effective.
I love the idea that teachers do not have to feel obligated to “recreate the wheel” to reach their students and goals. Using open education can allow educators to share insight, creativity, trial/errors, and methods. Teachers are benefiting from the experience and work of others. It is almost like direct collaboration with limited time wasted.
By using the works of others in the classroom, teachers can: sharpen their skills, gain new tools, and provide supplemental material without spending a great deal of time-all of which provide students with a more quality education. Can teachers become lazy by using the work of others? You bet. That is why taking a little time to properly train teachers how to cite their sources and how to identify quality ideas is so vital. The more ideas teachers have the better they can weed through them to select the ones that will best suit their specific classroom needs.
Sharing resources can be cheaper. As more and more schools are cutting budgets, teachers are being forced to either pay for materials or do without. But open education allows more and varied ideas and resources to be brought into the classroom without costing the big bucks. Schools access the creativity of hundreds of teachers and resources available without breaking the bank.
The potentials of open education far outweigh the struggles. Train the teachers to search and cite properly and then allow them to teach. There are so many restrictions on teachers and content that sharing shouldn't be one of them.
Coming from a fine arts background before I was an educator, I was always trained to take precautions to be protective of my work. It’s copyrighted after all (though I wasn’t exactly sure what made that legitimate or if lawyers needed to be involved). I thought I had to put a c. stamp on everything I posted and painted in the online world. Now I have an understanding that of the emerging and nuanced licenses, what to look for, how to identify them, and more importantly, I am open to the idea of sharing my lesson plans and artwork in the digital world and with other teachers because it has been so helpful to me in accessing materials for my own remix. Just like learning anything new, it takes deliberate effort at first to remain ethical/legal with your materials, but once the language has been developed and practice ensues, it becomes easier and easier over time. Collaboration might just begin locally or within a building or forum, but as the language and practices grow, adoption becomes more accessible. The cultural shift will happen not just in education, but globally, as this issue affects new technologies, business, and social networking. I’d say we have a great head start upon completion of this course!