Open, Distance and Digital Education (ODDE) mostly focused on removing the barriers from the educational sectors while widening reach among students, irrespectively (Czerniewicz & Carvalho, 2022). It has been observed that the open mode of learning mostly focused on maintaining flexibility in learning provisions while devising student-centric educational programs to support and guide the same throughout the process and contributing to their success stories (Bali, Cronin & Jhangiani, 2020). The transition from traditional learning techniques to modernized open learning is empowered through the continuous development of networking technologies. The emergence of Technologies like IoT and making a transition from 4G to 5G has largely influenced data-sharing capabilities (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2020).

Moreover, the open mode of learning programs has vastly aimed towards ensuring equity and inclusiveness through widened reach. It has been observed that open-mode learning is enabled through the creation of platforms that are capable to reach out to the remotest of places while inviting the attention of students and equally creating education opportunities (Vilchez et al., 2021). Nascimbeni and Burgos (2019) recollected that open-mode learning has been supportive for students who have been encountering challenges to maintain their physical attendance in institutions for engagements like work, which created optimum possibilities for educational institutions to reach out to students. Fuentes, Zelaya and Madsen (2021) stated that increased bandwidth of reach incomparably influenced inclusiveness while creating opportunities for transmitting knowledge to wider groups of students.

However, from the research by Czerniewicz and Carvalho (2022) it was noted that inequalities in society at large, the unequal earnings of people, digital and data-based inequalities has been limiting factor for open mode learning to achieve its goal of ensuring equity among people. Lack of affordability among people based on unequal payment and societal inequalities has blurred the wider accessibility of open-mode learning programs that are offered by institutions. Again, Zawacki-Richter et al. (2020) opined that insufficient internet penetration in the remotest parts of developing and under-developed economies has been a limiting factor in the reach of open-mode learning programs. Therefore, the current research will be focused on developing insights into the possible benefits and limiting factors of open-mode learning programs in relation to achieving equity and inclusiveness in educational sectors.

1.2 Research aim

The current research will aim at understanding the impact of open-mode learning on achieving equity and inclusiveness while developing comprehensive views on the benefits and challenges in the light of modern-day society.

1.3 Research objectives

The objectives for conducting the research will be:

To understand the concept of open-mode learning
To identify the benefits and challenges of open-mode learning
To analyze the impact of open-mode learning in achieving equity and inclusiveness in the educational sectors
To suggest a set of recommended activities that might be used by institutions for improving the scope of open-mode learning

1.4 Research questions

The research questions that will be considered are:

What is the concept of open-mode learning?
What are the benefits and challenges of open-mode learning?
How might open-mode learning assist in achieving equity and inclusiveness in the educational sectors?
How might institutions improve the scope of open-mode learning?

1.5 Scope of the study

The current research study will be exploring the concept of open-mode learning and how it has been improving the rate of education transmission while achieving equity and inclusiveness. The research will also develop insights into the benefits and challenges that are being forwarded by open-mode learning while suggesting ways to improve the scope of its fundamental operations. Overall the study will delve deeper into understanding the benefits and challenges that educational institutions would encounter in ensuring equity and achieving inclusiveness while providing their services to a wider group of students.

1.6 Research gap

The current study’s design is limited to understanding open-mode learning and how it has been influencing equity and inclusiveness. However, several other aspects like the impact of economic volatility or the earning standards of people are not detailed. Economic volatility and societal earnings are integral to identifying the affordability of open learning audiences. Therefore, the current study will be significantly limited to understanding the benefits and challenges of open learning platforms while identifying their influence in achieving equity and inclusiveness as a whole.

1.7 Hypothesis

H0 – Open-mode learning does not support achieving equity and inclusiveness in educational sectors

H1- Open-mode learning does support achieving equity and inclusiveness in educational sectors

1.8 Signpost

The current introduction will be followed by an extensive review of existing literature which would be supportive of creating comprehensive insights into open learning, its benefits and challenges. Post the literature review, the methodology section would brief on the instruments that would be used during the project followed by the findings and analysis section which would portray the findings from the current study. Lastly, a discussion, recommendation and conclusion section would be included.

References

Bali, M., Cronin, C., & Jhangiani, R. S. (2020). Framing Open Educational Practices from a Social Justice Perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1254006.pdf

Calabrese Barton, A., & Tan, E. (2020). Beyond equity as inclusion: A framework of “rightful presence” for guiding justice-oriented studies in teaching and learning. Educational researcher, 49(6), 433-440. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0013189X20927363

Czerniewicz, L., & Carvalho, L. (2022). Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE)–An Equity View. In Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (pp. 1-20). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_93-1.pdf

Fuentes, M. A., Zelaya, D. G., & Madsen, J. W. (2021). Rethinking the course syllabus: Considerations for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. Teaching of Psychology, 48(1), 69-79. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0098628320959979

Nascimbeni, F., & Burgos, D. (2019). Unveiling the relationship between the use of open educational resources and the adoption of open teaching practices in higher education. Sustainability, 11(20), 5637. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5637

Vilchez, J. A., Kruse, J., Puffer, M., & Dudovitz, R. N. (2021). Teachers and school health leaders’ perspectives on distance learning physical education during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of School Health, 91(7), 541-549. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8207123/

Zawacki-Richter, O., Conrad, D., Bozkurt, A., Aydin, C. H., Bedenlier, S., Jung, I., … & Kerres, M. (2020). Elements of open education: An invitation to future research. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 21(3), 319-334. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/irrodl/1900-v1-n1-irrodl05527/1071726ar.pdf