On your marks, get set, go open!

In the design and development of digital pedagogies, consideration of the level of ‘openness’ should be an integral part of the process. Bates (2015) recently described the current ‘continuum of technology-based learning’, noting that teaching and learning that does not involve technology, social media, or open approaches, is an increasingly rare thing. Considering the diverse array of educational approaches now claiming to be open, it has been suggested that the term ‘open’ has lost its way – or at the very least, means different things to different people. Perhaps, as Audrey Watters (2014) has suggested, this loss of focus has created confusion in the minds of those wishing to embrace open approaches.