# Open Education Handbook/History of open education

Open Education covers a broad range of activities and has a long history. From the public library movement of the 19th century which promoted open universities and state-provided education, when education suddenly became accessible to all, to the setting up of institutions like the Open University in the UK which lowered the boundaries to access.
An historical reconstruction is provided by Peters and Deimann (2013) who begin with the scholastic movement of the Middle Ages. They write:
what had been, until then, one mostly restricted to monastery open schools. A major factor was the growth of medieval towns and increasing urbanisation of society.. Out of the cathedral schools grew what we today recognise as institutions of higher learning, then termed “studium generale”. The “generale” or general nature already recognised the importance and signified that it was “intended for entire Christendom without regard for national or territorial boundaries”.
More recently it has taken on new impetus in a new direction, not disconnected with that history, but not entirely similar in focus.
Fabian Tompsett from Wikipedia argues that:
Technological innovation has naturally contributed to changes in educational practice but tools are often enablers rather than drivers. Open education is very much the result of a dialectical relationship between technology and human aspirations. As Ivan Illich said in Deschooling Society: "Technology is available to develop either independence and learning or bureaucracy and teaching."
As Martin Weller notes in The Battle for Open: "Openness has a long history in higher education. Its foundations lie in one of altruism, and the belief that education is a public good. It has undergone many interpretations and adaptations, moving from a model which had open entry to study as its primary focus, to one that emphasises openly available content and resources. This change in the definition of openness in education has largely been a result of the digital and network revolution. Changes in other sectors, most notably the open source model of software production, and values associated with the internet of free access and open approaches have influenced (and been influenced by) practitioners in higher education. The past decade or so has seen the growth of a global open education movement, with significant funding from bodies such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and research councils. Active campaigners in universities have sought to establish programmes that will release content (data, teaching resources, publications) openly, while others have adopted open practices regarding their own working, through social media and blogs. This has been combined with related work on open licenses (notably Creative Commons) which allow easy reuse and adaptation of content, advocacy at policy level for nation or state-wide adoption of open content and sharing of resources, and improved technology and infrastructure that make this openness both easy and inexpensive."

### Further resources

* Open Education Timeline - the interactive online timeline created by the Open Education Working Group
* Intro to Openness in Education - a course by David Wiley for the School of Open
* Kernohan, David and Amber Thomas (2012) OER - a historical perspective
* Tompsett, Fabian (2013) Vernacular Education, a presentation at Eduwiki 2013.