Philippine Commons Holds Conference on Open Education

Creative Commons, the Arellano School of Law and the Vibal Foundation held a forum entitled: “Open Education: Are we ready and where are we?” on 23 April 2008 in Pasay City. The aim was to explore the opportunities and benefits open education could bring to the country’s education system. It brought together actors from government, the private sector and NGOs to understand what open education means, what the global trends are and to explore ways to harness it in the country.

Open education is intimately tied to the rise of the Internet. Attorney Jaime Soriano, executive director of the E-law Center of Arellano Law School, said it is ”any scholarly, academic or guided initiative that promotes access to learning and knowledge in a free, open and collaborative environment using the tools and infrastructure of information technology.”

“This can potentially have a huge impact on our education system,” said Friedrich Naumann Foundation Resident Representative Siegfried Herzog, who was one of the guest speakers. “It is uniquely suited to the liberal approach to education,” he added. Herzog further explained that open education allows the development of a critical analytical mindset and the formation of values and cultural sensibilities. Both these objectives are important to a liberal policy of education that wants to enable people to make informed choices and to make good use of their individual freedom.

“It will give students access to information which they need to question things happening around them, and will thus enable them to become more active and engaged citizens. Crucially, open education breaks the monopoly of information that governments often exercise on teaching content. It is part and parcel of the right to information, which is becoming more and more crucial as a fundamental right in a free society,” He stressed.

The Philippines seems well placed to take advantage of these new opportunities. Representatives from the Department of Education made clear that the opportunities inherent in open education are recognized and play an increasing role in the efforts of the government to improve educational results. Private initiatives emerging from civil society are also set to provide a growing amount of input that is tailor-made to the Philippine situation. The conference has certainly highlighted an important and promising avenue for better cooperation between government and civil society.

Read more on how this new system is compatible with the liberal approach to education here.