The Need for Change in Education

The need for Change in Education: Openness as Default? The global changes in societies require a change in education, too. Learning innovations are needed to improve the quality of learning and training opportunities fitting to the current and future challenges for individuals, organizations and societies. However, the economic crisis is leading to a decrease of investment in learning and training instead of an increase. Open Education is offering an alternative for both objectives: higher learning quality and better return on investment through freely available solutions. Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Education Practices (OEP) are becoming a global movement due to the efforts by many international organizations including UNESCO with the Paris OER Declaration approved in the year 2012. This book contributes to the current debate about openness as the new paradigm and default solution for future education to improve the quality for learners, educational providers and systems as well as for citizens, the world of work and societies worldwide.