OPEN EDUCATIONAS A REAL UTOPIA

JAMISON R. MILLER | THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARYJRMILLER@WM.EDU | @MILLERJAMISON

Public Domain Image: N°. 2 – Les utopies de la navigation aérienne au siècle dernier

Open education has the potential to sustainably transform existing educational institutions into more equitable and democratic forms.

Public Domain Image: The subscription room at Lloyd's of London in the early 19th century

Public Domain Image: N°. 2 – Les utopies de la navigation aérienne au siècle dernier

OPEN EDUCATION IS “UNDER-THEORIZED”Bayne, Knox, & Ross, 2015

Deiman & Farrow, 2013 Edwards, 2015Knox, 2013Moe, 2015Nyberg, 1975 Peters, 2008

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WHY THEORY?● Without it, open education is

vulnerable to dilution and cooptation

● Not just a lens, but also as a keel

REAL UTOPIASSociologist Erik Olin Wright has built a theoretical framework for a critical and emancipatory approach in social science most comprehensively presented in Envisioning Real Utopias (2010). “Real utopias” aims to contribute a “normatively grounded sociology of the possible, not just the actual” (2012, p. 2).

Image: DV Ltd. / Sigtryggur Ari

REAL UTOPIAS

Image: DV Ltd. / Sigtryggur Ari

A contradictory term?UTOPIAS are fantasies, morally inspired designs unconstrained by feasibilityREALists eschew such fantasies, condemning them as wasted time and effort

Wright proposes embracing the tensions between dreams and practice.

What is pragmatically possible is not independent of our imaginations, but is shaped by our visions. (2010, p. 6)

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WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY.

Naïve optimism, perhaps, but without a will, many ways become impossible.

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THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.

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PLAUSIBLE VISIONS OF RADICAL ALTERNATIVES,

WITH FIRM THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS,

ARE A CRUCIAL COMPONENT FOR EMANCIPATORY SOCIAL

CHANGE.

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FOUNDATIONS1)Many forms of human suffering and many deficits

in human flourishing are the result of existing institutional and social structures.

2)Transforming existing institutional and social structures in the right way has the potential to substantially reduce human suffering and expand the possibilities for human flourishing.

(Wright, 2012, p. 2)

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FOUR TASKS1)Specifying moral principles2)Diagnosis and critique of existing

institutions3)Developing an account of viable

alternatives4)Proposing a theory of transformation

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TASK ONE: Specifying moral principles

EQUALITYDEMOCRACYSUSTAINABILITY

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TASK ONE: Specifying moral principles

EQUALITY: In a socially just society, all people would have broadly equal access to the social and material conditions necessary for living a flourishing life. (2012, p. 4)

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TASK ONE: Specifying moral principles

DEMOCRACY:In a fully democratic society, all people would have broadly equal access to the necessary means to participate meaningfully in decisions about things that affect their lives. (2012, p. 5)

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TASK ONE: Specifying moral principles

SUSTAINABILITY: Future generations should have access to the social and material conditions to live flourishing lives at least at the same level as the present generation. (2012, p.5)

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TASK TWO: Diagnosis and Critique

Dewey (1916)Freire (1970)hooks (1994)

Benkler (2006)Castells (2010; 2013)

Floridi (2011)

Giroux (2014)Slaughter & Rhoades (2004)

Newfield (2008; 2016)

Watters (whenever)McMillan-Cottom (2017)

Goldrick-Rab (2016)

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TASK THREE: AlternativesDeveloping an account of open education, evaluated in terms of:

Desirability- focusing ideal alone is merely utopianViability- unintended consequences?Achievability- how do we move from here to there?

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TASK THREE: AlternativesOpen education as an alternative institutional form of education

Open things: OER, dataOpen practices: Pedagogy, teaching, learning

ResearchOrganization

and governance

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TASK THREE: Alternatives

Economic empowerment Social empowerment

Educational Institutions

Educational Institutions

Adapted from Wright, 2010; 2012

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TASK FOUR: Transformation

Three strategic logics towards social transformation:

Ruptural - revolution, a sharp breakInterstitial - building in niches and marginsSymbiotic - achieving social empowerment and practical problems of dominant classes + elites

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REAL UTOPIASFOUNDATIONSFOUR TASKS

Moral principlesDiagnosis and critiqueAccounts of alternativesTransformation

OPEN EDUCATIONAS A REAL UTOPIA

JAMISON R. MILLER | THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARYJRMILLER@WM.EDU | @MILLERJAMISON

Public Domain Image: N°. 2 – Les utopies de la navigation aérienne au siècle dernier