When I saw the title of the resource, I was reminded that on the first day of class the professor asked us to talk about our views on open learning and distributed learning. The title again reminded me of the question that was on my mind at the time: How can I define open learning?

As Elliot (1973) describes a tension between “closed” and “open” pedagogies with the former tending to be more focused on didactic discussion and the latter being connected with leading less formal discussions and students co- creating the context of the class. Through discussion of the four topics and study of the resources, my definition of open learning is constantly being updated.

The essence of open learning is that everyone enjoys the right to lifelong education. It is an education that emphasizes the openness of educational concepts, educational objects, educational resources, and educational processes, and emphasizes student- and learning-centered education. Talent development focuses on theoretical research, while open education focuses on practical exploration. In terms of the relationship between the two, the former is the end and the latter is the means. The basic motivation is to use the theory of talent cultivation to guide the practice of open education. In turn, the practice of open education is also used to improve the theory of talent cultivation.

The process of talent cultivation in open education needs to be explored through the practice of open education. From this perspective, the relationship between talent cultivation and open education is the relationship of guiding and being guided, and the relationship of serving and being served.

 

Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy.

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).