Open and Free Access to Education for All

Open education has evolved over time and now has different interpretations. Three main versions of open education are considered, namely open universities, open educational resources (OER) and MOOCs. These all aim to increase access to education, but have different approaches for realising this aim. The open education landscape is explored using a citation analysis method, to reveal that there is little cross-fertilisation between the distinct areas. In order to address this, a conceptual model is proposed, and the result of a global survey used to analyse the manner in which different institutions are exploiting aspects of openness to increase access. The author concludes that the diverse interpretations of open education can be seen as a benefit, if it allows institutions to assemble approaches for increased access that are tailored to their context