Abstract
The modern age has come along with varied dimensions of ‘openness', ranging from open content, open data, open courses (massive open online courses (MOOCs) to open source and pedagogy, open and distance learning, and open access, among others. In order to meet with the educational needs of people, hardly is there any country where open and distance learning (ODL) does not hold. With scattered adherents and students across different geographical boundaries, ODL is known to leave the doors of institutions of higher learning wide open for the benefit of the marginalized, isolated, underprivileged, and the unreachable for education and training, while they remain in their homes, places of work, and other locations pursuing their studies. But a sizeable number of students suffer from failure, low pass rate, and indeed withdrawal from or discontinuance of participation. Nonetheless, ODL seems to work in tandem with the core business of Sustainable Development Agenda, which is out to make the world better for its people, with no one left behind. The Agenda carries along a strong desire for access to information towards achieving the set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In pursuit of the attainment of the goals and mending the debilitating crack of excessive failure rate and not being able to adequately meet the library and information needs of the ODL students, the virtual and ubiquitous role of Open Access (OA) is considered vital. This chapter attempts to provide the nexus between the ODL, OA, and the SDGs even as each of the subjects in the discourse is dissected; a panoramic survey of the related terms is carried out, and socio-political and economic implications of the OA in relation to other subjects are perused.
TopIntroduction
Open access (OA) can be seen as an offshoot of scholarly communication. Roger Williams University (2019) considers open access as a means of disseminating scholarly research that breaks from the traditional subscription model of academic publishing. The institution further notes that OA has the potential to accelerate greatly the pace of scientific discovery, encourage innovation and enrich education by reducing barriers to access. In another discourse, Roger Williams University (2020) asserts that the rapid exchange of information on the internet, rising journal prices, and the mandate for OA to publicly funded research are changing the nature of scholarly communication. Widén (2010) adds his voice to the scholarly communication issue when, in retrospect, he states that the communication and dissemination of research ideas, initiatives, and results, has long historical roots. The author however acknowledged some important turning points in recent years in the development of the Internet and the web which has had a major impact on many areas today. Scholarly communication has always been the hallmark of the academia and research community. It emanates from and derived its root in research and scholarly work the academics are expected to execute. Research and publication is generally known as one of the three-legged trivet that academic rests, others being teaching and service. According to the Association of College & Research Libraries (2020), scholarly communication is the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. Creaser (2011) also articulates that scholarly communication covers a wide spectrum of activity, broadly in two areas – publishing and disseminating the results of research, and providing access to the published material. The scholarly communication mostly comes in the form of print and digital. Of late, digital scholarly communication seems to have held sway as the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web has had a tremendous impact on many areas in today’s society. One such area is open access. In breaking away from the traditional subscription model of academic publishing, OA equips itself with the capacity to accelerate greatly the pace of scientific discovery, encourage innovation and enrich education by reducing barriers to access. Open access shifts the costs of publishing so that readers, practitioners and researchers obtain content at no cost (Roger Williams University, 2019). This chapter is anchored on open access with two threads running in it. First, it is viewed that open access constitutes an effective information service in open and distance learning environment, and second, that open access is capable of effecting the attainment of sustainable development goals.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social Sustainability: A system of social organization that promotes welfare of members/people and mitigates lack and poverty.
Open Data: Easily accessible data that anyone can access, use and freely share to anyone else to benefit from.
COVID-19: is a recently discovered infectious disease caused by coronavirus.
Sustainable Development: The idea or belief that ensures life improvement for mankind and guarantees that human society is able to meet its current needs without jeopardizing the chances of future generations to meet their own needs.
Open and Distance Learning (ODL): A system of education that attempts to remove the administrative and educational bottlenecks experienced in the traditional face-to-face system and brings about self-directed and flexibility in learning such as place and time of learning.
Open Access: A publishing outlet for scholarly communication that makes results of research and academic publications freely available or accessible online to anyone without attracting any cost.
Scholarly Communication: A system through which scholarly work is created, reviewed and disseminated to the academic, research or scholarly community