The next big open; education?

For the past two decades, a lot of innovation has lived under the broad umbrella of the “open” movement. When people talk about openness today, they usually mean things like open source software or open science. These have been the dominant forces shaping how knowledge, tools, and research get shared online.

Open source changed how software is built and open science is changing how research is published. But what comes next?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this after listening to the Preprints in Motion podcast, which recently explored the rise of the open hardware movement. Open hardware is fascinating because it extends the logic of open source into the physical world with real impact - the seatbelt is a great example of open hardware!

My bet for the next big “open”? Open education.

Source and hardware represent earlier stages of research and development, open science represents the sharing of scientific knowledge but open education (the utilisation of that knowledge) has largely been ignored. 

Why is education ready for disruption?

Education is one of the least “open” systems left.

• Universities charge high tuition
• Academic materials are often locked behind paywalls
• Curricula are slow to change
• Credentials are controlled by institutions
• Academic textbooks are expensive

At the same time, the internet has already broken most of the technical barriers to learning. Lectures from the top universities are available online. Research papers can be accessed and read without cost (when they are open access). Yet the system itself remains closed. This gap is precisely where open movements start. 

Moreover, open education has enormous potential to reshape not just access, but how learning happens. Open textbooks, public curricula, peer-to-peer learning, and skill-based credentials could fundamentally redefine what it means to be educated, who gets recognized for it, and how knowledge is shared.

What is open education?

Open education is a movement that aims to make learning more accessible, shareable, and collaborative by removing barriers around educational materials, teaching, and credentials. It includes open educational resources, open teaching and open certification. 

In practice this may look like:

• Open textbooks that anyone can edit
• Public curricula shared across institutions
• Community-run learning platforms
• Credentials based on skills instead of enrollment
• Peer-to-peer teaching networks

In the programming world, we already see a number of examples of open textbooks (e.g. R for Data Science). For life sciences, there is iBiology, a platform containing over 600 biology-focused videos and lectures. But the open education movement is still not yet as unified or as widespread as other “open” efforts. 

Why now?

Open education is poised to be the next big “open” as several forces are converging at once:

• AI makes knowledge easier to generate and explain
• The cost of education continues rising
• More people learn online than ever before 
• Younger generations are comfortable learning outside of formal institutions
• Organizations like UNESCO actively promote open educational resources

This matters because open education is about changing who gets to create, share, and recognise knowledge. Open, accessible, knowledge may also play an important role in improving trust in research, as it can help educate those without “formal” training. 

How to get involved?

The easiest way to start getting more involved with open education is very simply to do it. Put something you’ve learned online, give it an open licence and let other people reuse it.

Platforms such as OER Commons, Wikibooks, and Wikipedia make it easy to share materials, while organizations like Open Education Global and Creative Commons help promote open licensing and collaboration. If you work in a university, school, or research setting, you can also advocate for openness locally by encouraging the use of open textbooks, sharing course materials publicly, publishing in open access venues, or experimenting with more transparent and collaborative teaching practices.

Another way to get involved is by building or supporting the tools and communities that make open learning possible. Open education depends on platforms, repositories, and learning systems, which is why open-source projects like Moodle and initiatives supported by groups such as UNESCO play an important role.

The Open University currently offers a free course on open education, and there is an open education handbook for those wanting to learn more.