# The battle for open

The Battle for Open
How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory
Martin Weller
The Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory
Martin Weller
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ubiquity press
London
Published by Ubiquity Press Ltd. Gordon House 29 Gordon Square London WC1H 0PP www.ubiquitypress.com
Text © Martin Weller 2014
First published 2014
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-909188-33-4 ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-909188-34-1 ISBN (PDF): 978-1-909188-35-8 ISBN (Kindle): 978-1-909188-36-5
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bam
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Suggested citation: Weller, M 2014 The Battle For Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bam
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Author details
Martin Weller
The Open University
Martin Weller is Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. He chaired the OU's first major ­elearning course in 1999, with over 12,000 students, and has led several major elearning initiatives. He started blogging in 2005 and became interested in the impact of new technology on ­academic practice. He is currently the Director of the OER Research Hub project and holds the ICDE Chair in OER.
To three pioneers of modern open education: Stephen Downes, George Siemens and David Wiley
Contents
​With the success of open access publishing, Massive open online courses (MOOCs) and open education practices, the open approach to education has moved from the periphery to the mainstream. This marks a moment of victory for the open education movement, but at the same time the real battle for the direction of openness begins. As with the green movement, openness now has a market value and is subject to new tensions, such as venture capitalists funding MOOC companies. This is a crucial time for determining the future direction of open education.
In this volume, Martin Weller examines four key areas that have been central to the developments within open education: open access, MOOCs, open education resources and open scholarship. Exploring the tensions within these key arenas, he argues that ownership over the future direction of openness is significant to all of those with an interest in education.
Martin Weller is Professor of Educational Technology at the Open University, and the ICDE Chair in OER. He is the director of the Hewlett funded OER Research Hub, with an interest in digital scholarship, open education and the impact of new technology on universities. He blogs at edtechie.net.
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