The open school vision – for more openness at universities

Abstract

This paper introduces the open school concept, which aims to strengthen the openness of the university to its students. In an open school, students do not take a passive role as service consumers; they are active members of their university. Though the open school reflects a new mindset in higher education, it uses available technologies. The web-based platform for Crowd Sourcing, IDEANET, is an adequate system to support universities in launching an open school project. Three case studies conducted at German higher education institutions demonstrate the feasibility of the concept and show that students are willing to make contributions. Grades and promises from the university's side to actually implement students' best ideas can be used as reward mechanisms. In some circumstances, however, the use of grades can raise some conflicts.