Mapping “A Situation of Open Education”: Using Collaborative Relational Mapping to Explore Motivations and Constraint Among Open Educators

Abstract

This short paper, analyzes “a situation of open education” using a relational map constructed in collaboration with a group of open educators as part of a larger study of the implications of scale within the field of open education. Applying situational analysis research methodology with its feminist and post-structural underpinnings, the purpose of this study is not to seek a “right” or “wrong” approach to scale but instead to invite a small group of open educators to deconstruct the concept of scale. This research approach is qualitative, critical and tentative and is written in the first person in alignment with the belief that research is neither objective nor neutral.