Rethinking OER s and their use:
Open Education as Bildung
Markus Deimann
Institute of Educational Science and Media Research
FernUniversität in Hagen
Robert Farrow
Open Learning Network
Open University UK

Introduction:
Introduction:
What are OER?
What are OER?
 OER as “digitised materials offered freely and openly
for educators, students and self-learners to use and
reuse for teaching and learning”(OECD)
 Materials are available and consumable anywhere,
anyplace and anytime
 OER-specific: MERLOT, Connexions
 YouTube, WikipediaFlickr, Slideshare, Facebook etc.)
 Potential to catalyse educational practices
 Part of a global movement towards more openness to
(Higher) Education
 Up to now, no solid theoretical foundation

The concept of
The concept of
Bildung
Bildung
 Unique in the world and covers a wide range of
philosophical and religious connotations and applications
which are beyond definition
 Typically it is an individual activity (in the UK/US:
education as an external process to influence the person)
 In Germany it is now a label for the educational business
and for politics
 Bildung has been transformed into measurable
competencies (which change very often)
 A paradigm regained? (Prange, 2004); Bildung is on the
agenda again

Humboldt's Ideal
Humboldt's Ideal
of Bildung
of Bildung
 Bildung as the unrestrained interplay between the
individual and the world in the most
comprehensive, vital and freest way possible
 A cultivation of inner life in reflexive, creative and
self-organised forms
 Has failed to be utilized in structured and
formalised contexts (University of Berlin)
 In recent times, reduced to economic affordances
(“lifelong learning”) but still used as “label”

Basic assumption
Basic assumption
of Bildung
of Bildung

Bildung and Media
Bildung and Media
 Internet as a new space of Bildung and culture
 How people use the Internet creatively for their
own presentations, articulations and
manifestations of identity (virtual arrangements)?
 A lot of research on MUD (identity, rules)
 New digital spaces with potentials for Bildung (not
just for learning): Massive Open Online Courses
 New spill-over effects (traditional: real life ↔
virtual life): usage of social media in
private/leisure contexts ↔ usage in learning
contexts are underinvestigated

Bildung and Open
Bildung and Open
Education
Education
 Bildung is prone to bridge the theoretical gap that has been existed
in Open Education for several decades
 Provides a broader framework than pure learning theories that are
constrained to fixed settings (e.g. classroom)
 Bildung and OER share the same values (“humanity”)
 Complement each other
 Bildung describes the processes of interacting with the world but
leaves practical aspects open
 OER stress the means of accessing knowledge by modern ICT

Research
Research
questions
questions
 What impact has Open Education on Bildung?
 Assumption: Learning is becoming more an more
open, thus more complex
 Traditional patterns (formal education) are not
adequate any longer due to global
transformations
 New learning frameworks need to be developed →
Process of Bildung
 Individual perspective: Biographical interviews
 Empirical evidence to theorise on Bildung --->
Theory of Open Bildung

Conclusions
Conclusions
 Significant potentials to elicit Bildung through the
use of OER
 Bildung provides a theoretical framework for OER
built on values as autonomy, critical reflection,
and inclusivity
 Bildung sheds light to developments such as
“commodification of education” and can trigger a
revision of the economic reduction
 Bildung questions simple assumptions: Access to
learning materials is education; MOOC principles

Thank you very much!