“Downard 185a” by twigged1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The history of open education shows a tug o’ war between those with idealistic views of education for all and those who want to maintain control of knowledge, power, and wealth.  Peter and Diemann scan the history of Open Education starting in the late Middle Ages.  The rope with society’s knowledge tied at the centre was held firmly in the hands of monks when the lay person’s desire for knowledge began to tug at the other end.  Over a long, long period of time, the pull to give everyone access to society’s knowledge has gained ground and the controlling entities are starting to get dirty.  Who are the controlling entities?  That would be anyone who has something to lose if people are allowed to think freely and share ideas freely.  Whether it be governments, religious leaders, cultural leaders, universities, school districts, newspapers, people with copyrights and patents, special interest groups, or even parents, someone will always want to control what someone else learns, sees, hears.  Sometimes it’s for money.  Sometimes it’s to maintain order.  Sometimes it’s to sway opinion.  Sometimes it’s for a good reason.  Sometimes it’s for a selfish reason.  It’s the way it has always been.  We share information we want people to know and keep the rest under our hats.

So there seems to be three ways to go when it comes to the open sharing of information on the internet.  You could fear what might be there and go settle yourself down with your 1977 World Book Encyclopedias.  Obviously you could be missing some relevant up-to-date information but, at least it was fact-checked back in the 70s.  Conversely, you could just dive in and believe everything you see on your Facebook feed.  Did you know camel spiders eat flesh and can jump several feet off the ground?  The more reasoned response is to be wary of what you read on the internet.  Find reliable sources and do your own fact checking.

As an educator, this means we need to give our students the critical tools they need to use the internet wisely and stay safe.  Before reaching school, children have varying levels of digital literacy.  What they have learned depends on the amount of exposure and guidance with technology they have had from others.  Some will come to school knowing how to navigate YouTube and social media while others have never even held a smartphone.  The digital divide can grow wider and wider as the years go by so a case could be made for getting started on Digital Literacy in Kindergarten.  Then maybe they can go home and teach their parents.  As people gain digital literacy skills and learn to be responsible digital citizens, the time will come for “naysayers” to drop the rope.