The purpose of the Digivisio 2030 project is to create an ecosystem of learning that is based on digital services, one that would be available to all learners regardless of their previous background. The project will create a platform that allows learners to complete their studies continuously and across higher education boundaries.
The success of this project will open new opportunities for continuous learning through open education offering. Higher education students can choose courses from other higher education institutions and include them in their own study modules.
Open learning significantly increases the volume of studying. University libraries are concerned about the equal distribution of learning materials to all learners regardless of time and place.
Typically, around a third of higher education course literature consists of e-books, which enable studying anywhere at any time, and thus are in themselves suitable material for remote learning. However, printed material is not suitable for this kind of studying, because the students’ local libraries are not often equipped with sufficient amounts of course materials.
The use of licensed electronic material requires that the materials are only available to the persons covered by specific agreements. Digivisio entails the idea that learners can take individual courses either from a higher education institute’s course offering or from the Open University. In this case, it should be ensured that the individual learner can access to the learning material required for that one course, but also that they will not have access to all the other material licensed by the higher education institution. The technical aspects of this are very difficult to implement.
One option is to obtain national licences for electronic materials. However, the expenses of such licensing make the acquisition practically impossible.
The solution can be found in open access electronic materials, which are available to everyone, regardless of time and place. They are also suitable for mass courses since the number of users is not limited in any way.
The problem with open educational resources is their production, storage, and findability. Many teachers are required to find new learning materials to replace the printed and licensed materials currently in use and to adapt their teaching around these new materials. It is possible that teachers will see this as a restriction on their freedom to choose their own teaching methods.. However, this could also be considered a part of the revolution brought by digital pedagogy.
The issues of storage and implementation regarding open educational resources must also be resolved. Many higher education institutions have their own publication archives, in which open educational resources can also be stored. There are also national (e.g. the Library of Open Educational Resources, aoe.fi) and international solutions.
The problem with the placement of educational resources into publication archives may be their quality, as archives do not usually feature a quality control of any kind. Teachers must then examine for themselves whether the material introduced to them is suitable for educational purposes.
Open educational resources offer a variety of opportunities for open education. However, their widespread use requires a change in the mental landscape of teachers, which is a time-consuming process. As part of the revolution of digital pedagogy, this could become possible.
Ari Muhonen
Chairman of FUN
Library Director
University of Eastern Finland Library
