Open Education: Towards Epistemic Sustainability

Abstract

Conducted in a scholarship of teaching and learning approach (Boyer, 1990), this position paper shares a scholar’s reflection on epistemic sustainability. Conceived as a philosophy for Humans living harmoniously with the many ecosystems they are involved in, it is nurtured by values encountered in Open Education – freedom, transparency, sharing, universal ownership. It aims at reconsidering knowledge so that each individual can identify with it, resulting in a process of engaged learning and caring for knowledge environment. It rests on the diversity of knowledge systems (UNESCO, 2021) and contributes to the growth of the knowledge society. Discussed with the backdrop of a framework composed of social learning theories (Wenger, 2018) and the sociology of absences and emersions (Santos, 2016), it offers two examples of concrete changes in the praxis of scholars in computer-supported education. The first resides in programming algorithms for AI considering the diversity of knowledge systems and Open Education values. The second invites to reconsider the lifecycle of a course beyond academic borders.