Outside-In: Entangled Openness as Subversion Influencing Emergent Change

Those of us in the open education field often talk about how open education expands access, supports knowledge sharing, and potentially enhances the quality of education. We also critique open education for sometimes reproducing inequalities despite promising to promote social justice. But what about the ways in which openness removes/destroys barriers within us? In what ways does openness empower us from the outside-in? When does openness influence critical change and when might it fail to do so? In this opinion piece, I will explore some of the things openness makes possible that are often not possible within the walls of institutions, and which can end up challenging and subverting injustice by focusing on some key principles within the practice of “Virtually Connecting,” and I will explore a notion of entangled openness whereby open practices require a complex interplay between open attitudes, social justice praxis, and digital literacies within a team.