While many historically contingent barriers to individual liberty have been deconstructed, I argue that current education policy continues to maintain a discriminatory educational milieu that constitutes individuals as dis/abled. I describe this current government formulation of educational spaces as Closed Policy. Various contingent environmental…

Since COVID-19 pandemic hit the world at the beginning of 2020s, various efforts were made to keep the education process running while still enforcing protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Online learning then becomes an option and inevitability for educational institutions to break the chain of spreading the virus. Furthermore, distance…

In this article, we conceptualize a new model of transnational education: the "open master." Arising from higher education for emerging fields such as quantum technology and artificial intelligence, the open master addresses the urgent need for advanced digital skills. We consider how, using distance education, specialist courses can…

This paper showcases relevant initiatives to address inclusive and sustainable development through the objectives of UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) towards ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. These research projects have been possible thanks to initiatives such…

This reflective paper describes insights gained in the process of seeking to enhance disability and access services for adult disabled learners in Open Distance and Flexible Learning (ODFL) in Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper explores the question: What would make the biggest difference to disabled learners' experience in ODFL? It presents brief…

Information Communication Technology influences all dimensions of education. Especially in distance education, rapid change occurs. Based on the huge availability of online resources like open education resources, distance education can be accessed openly at a low cost. In the 21st century, teaching and learning, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)…

Globally, children with disabilities are disadvantaged in the school environment. They are also disproportionately represented among out-of-school children. Inclusive Design for Learning provides a means to address this crisis of exclusion of persons with identified and unidentified disabilities, which may be permanent or episodic. This Knowledge…

This paper presents a novel approach to designing an online, open-source course in systems librarianship, an area of librarianship that may be perceived as complex and intimidating because of the technologies involved. The course design focuses on making systems librarianship more approachable for library and information science students who may…

This book situates Massive Open Online Courses and open learning within a broader educational, economic and social context. It raises questions regarding whether Massive Open Online Courses effectively address demands to open up access to education by triggering a new education order, or merely represent reactionary and unimaginative responses to…

Working from the perspective of open and online learning for widening participation in higher education, this article advances a new conceptual model to guide practitioners and researchers in maximising the enablers and minimising the constraints to foundation level online learning for equity students. The model is adapted from technology for…

Open Education (OE), a generic term for a collection of practices that seek to broaden the access to education through digital means, has gained increasing traction and popularity over the last years and from various corners, both globally and in European circles. Rather than taking the technologies OE makes use of at face value, this article…

The Three Tier system of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) which was put in place with 73rd amendment in the constitution of India, is a major initiative for democratic decentralization. PRIs are acting successfully and gradually becoming more powerful and resourceful. Now most of the Panchayets, including block and village level, are having…

In the conventional system of education, a student can regularly interact with teachers and peers and effectively and smoothly carry on with the learning process. However, in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system, students have to learn by themselves with the self-instructional materials and with the minimum guidance received from…

The paper explores the change process that university teachers need to go through in order to become fluent with Open Education approaches. Based on a literature review and a set of interviews with a number of leading experts in the field of Open Educational Resources and Open Education, the paper puts forward an original definition of Open…

General education is at the forefront of the challenges facing faculty and administrators as they develop initiatives to address the nationwide trend focused on college completion programs. Attempts to trim core requirements and shift courses to online environments could be one answer for providing greater course access, for improving enrollments,…