1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,610 2 00:00:02,610 --> 00:00:07,960 STEPHEN DOWNES: George Siemans and David Wiley, congratulations. 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:09,940 You're covering an important subject when 4 00:00:09,940 --> 00:00:14,140 you're covering open content and openness in general in your new MOOC. 5 00:00:14,140 --> 00:00:18,740 And I'm glad that your MOOC is open, except for certification. 6 00:00:18,740 --> 00:00:22,060 But, yeah, we'll leave that aside. 7 00:00:22,060 --> 00:00:26,290 It's an important subject because open is an important subject. 8 00:00:26,290 --> 00:00:31,360 And open is an important subject because without that, we literally 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,230 have no way of communicating with each other. 10 00:00:35,230 --> 00:00:41,240 Open is what allows us to share our ideas, our discoveries, our hopes, 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,260 our dreams with each other. 12 00:00:43,260 --> 00:00:47,500 Without a language, without the possibility 13 00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:54,970 of a medium of communication, we can't find the way to express ourselves. 14 00:00:54,970 --> 00:01:00,100 And this involves much more than just the communication 15 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:03,730 of ideas and culture and arts. 16 00:01:03,730 --> 00:01:11,860 It involves our growth, our development, our hopes and dreams, our families, 17 00:01:11,860 --> 00:01:14,460 our parents, our children. 18 00:01:14,460 --> 00:01:21,220 Indeed, all aspects that make up life, because what makes up life 19 00:01:21,220 --> 00:01:26,465 is our interactions with ourselves and our world around us. 20 00:01:26,465 --> 00:01:30,190 And what makes up these interactions is communication. 21 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:33,970 And communication is impossible with openness. 22 00:01:33,970 --> 00:01:38,800 Now I know you're talking specifically about openness in education. 23 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:43,390 And you're going to cover things like open content. or, I'm sure David will. 24 00:01:43,390 --> 00:01:46,090 Open courses, right, George? 25 00:01:46,090 --> 00:01:51,310 Maybe even open pedagogy and open teaching and open practices. 26 00:01:51,310 --> 00:01:53,200 Looking forward to some discussion there. 27 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,810 28 00:01:55,810 --> 00:02:02,180 I think that education benefits in all manner of ways from openness. 29 00:02:02,180 --> 00:02:07,810 There's this old fashioned belief that education is somehow 30 00:02:07,810 --> 00:02:12,220 closed and proprietary, that knowledge is power, that hoarding of knowledge 31 00:02:12,220 --> 00:02:16,610 is how you accumulate power and influence. 32 00:02:16,610 --> 00:02:19,190 But I don't think that's the case. 33 00:02:19,190 --> 00:02:24,550 My own experience has been that through the sharing of resources, 34 00:02:24,550 --> 00:02:31,150 through the sharing of knowledge and capacities and insights, 35 00:02:31,150 --> 00:02:36,940 my own influence, and that of those that I work with those around me increases. 36 00:02:36,940 --> 00:02:40,000 I just knocked a cup to the floor because, ah, you know, 37 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,290 it's an informal video, and I started gesturing. 38 00:02:44,290 --> 00:02:46,330 Gestures are openness. 39 00:02:46,330 --> 00:02:49,630 Gestures are ways of indicating openness. 40 00:02:49,630 --> 00:02:56,530 So and I've talked a lot over the years about how 41 00:02:56,530 --> 00:02:59,260 learning is a network phenomenon. 42 00:02:59,260 --> 00:03:02,440 George has no end of that. 43 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,220 And I've talked about how success in learning 44 00:03:06,220 --> 00:03:08,920 is based on success in networks. 45 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:14,470 And we've discussed what makes these networks successful over time. 46 00:03:14,470 --> 00:03:19,390 And I've included autonomy as one of the major virtues, 47 00:03:19,390 --> 00:03:23,710 and diversity, of course, is one of the major virtues of networks. 48 00:03:23,710 --> 00:03:26,860 We can have some discussions about that. 49 00:03:26,860 --> 00:03:31,030 But openness, as well, is one of the major virtues of networks. 50 00:03:31,030 --> 00:03:37,040 If you think about it, in order for knowledge to be developed in a network, 51 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,360 in a person, in a classroom, in a society, 52 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:45,370 that network needs to be able to grow and shape and form 53 00:03:45,370 --> 00:03:48,190 new connections to strengthen connections and weaken 54 00:03:48,190 --> 00:03:49,700 other connections. 55 00:03:49,700 --> 00:03:52,890 That is not possible without input. 56 00:03:52,890 --> 00:03:55,750 It is not possible without feedback. 57 00:03:55,750 --> 00:03:59,310 It's not possible, in other words, without openness. 58 00:03:59,310 --> 00:04:02,950 Without openness, the individual members of the network 59 00:04:02,950 --> 00:04:09,010 have no way of communicating with each other, have no mechanism for developing 60 00:04:09,010 --> 00:04:11,530 new thought, new ideas. 61 00:04:11,530 --> 00:04:13,490 So that's where I begin with openness. 62 00:04:13,490 --> 00:04:16,630 And I guess I want to add one more comment as I 63 00:04:16,630 --> 00:04:19,029 near the end of my five minutes here. 64 00:04:19,029 --> 00:04:24,610 For me, openness isn't about rights. 65 00:04:24,610 --> 00:04:26,590 And I might disagree with David on this. 66 00:04:26,590 --> 00:04:31,660 But to me, openness has always been about access. 67 00:04:31,660 --> 00:04:40,510 Openness is about the possibilities of communicating with other people, 68 00:04:40,510 --> 00:04:45,070 being communicated to from other people, and being 69 00:04:45,070 --> 00:04:47,920 able to be part of that social network. 70 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:49,220 It's not about stuff. 71 00:04:49,220 --> 00:04:52,700 It's not about what you do with stuff. 72 00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:55,390 It's about what you did with each other. 73 00:04:55,390 --> 00:04:56,140 Thanks a lot. 74 00:04:56,140 --> 00:04:58,800 Have a good course, George and Dave. 75 00:04:58,800 --> 00:04:59,558