Introduction:
David Wiley is a professor and leader in open education as he advocates to make learning affordable and accessible. He has helped to alter education by promoting free available materials and open pedagogy. One of his well known contributions would be his collaboration with the Open Content initiative and active participation in establishing Lumen Learning to promote the worldwide open educational movement.
Wiley is a scholar and educator who introduced the “5 Rs” which stands for Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute. This creates good flexibility in educational content and brings confidence to students and educators who want to uniquely customize their educational content, be able to share with others and adapt it to their own needs and what works best for them. This enables inclusivity and collaboration within the educational environment where there are no barriers financially, to access learning.
Wiley has also been a strong advocate regarding how education must be treated as a public good rather than a commodity. This idea places the traditional educational model in opposition, one where highly valuable resources are restricted from being accessed through paywalls. It pushes the message that knowledge should be made available to everyone no matter what.
When I think about my own experience of learning, I see how fortunate I am to have all sorts of information and resource access. I feel very appreciative in regards to how David Wiley has been an advocate for all kinds of OER because through textbooks, courses, open resources, I understand how important it is to have educational materials ready to be accessed whenever needed.