Why a snapshot is hard to draw
It is tempting to give a single number for how widely open education and online learning are used together. That number does not really exist. “Online learning” covers everything from a school video call to a fully remote degree. “Open education” covers anything from one freely licensed worksheet to a complete open textbook. Combining them gives countless possible overlaps, and surveys that count them use different definitions and different samples.
This article therefore describes patterns rather than percentages. It does not quote survey results, because stating figures from memory risks inventing precision. Where a reader needs exact numbers, the right move is to look for recent, clearly described surveys from education bodies and check how they define their terms.
What is common
A few patterns are widely recognized.
Online delivery is now ordinary. Learning management systems are used by many schools, colleges and universities to host materials, set tasks and collect work. Even teaching that is mostly in person often has an online component. The experience of remote teaching during recent disruptions, which affected education in many countries, made online tools familiar to a very large number of teachers and learners.
Free-to-view content is plentiful. Videos, articles, exercises and recorded lectures are available at no charge in a huge range of subjects. Not all of it is openly licensed, though. Something being free to watch is different from being free to copy, adapt and share, and many learners use freely available material without being aware of the distinction.
Open licensing is established as an idea. Standard licenses such as Creative Commons mean that educators have a common vocabulary for sharing. Open textbooks and shared collections of teaching materials exist in many subjects, particularly in introductory topics with large audiences.
What is uneven
Adoption varies a lot along several lines.
- By subject. Subjects with large, stable, introductory courses, such as basic mathematics, general science or composition, tend to have more openly licensed options than narrow or fast-changing specialties.
- By level. Material for introductory university courses and general learners is often easier to find than advanced or specialized content.
- By language. Much of the available open material is in a small number of widely used languages. Learners in other languages may find far fewer options, though translation and local authoring are growing areas.
- By country and institution. Policy, funding and attitudes differ. Some governments and institutions actively encourage open materials; others leave the choice to individual teachers, and many have no stated approach.
- By awareness. Some teachers use openly licensed material without realizing it, while others never look for it because they do not know how to search or what the licenses allow.
What is still rare
Several practices that advocates often describe are less common than the enthusiasm suggests.
Open pedagogy in everyday teaching. Asking students to create or improve openly licensed resources as part of their coursework exists, but it is a minority practice in most places and the evidence about its effects is mixed.
Fully open courses leading to recognized credit. Most openly available courses do not carry formal credit, and when credit is available it is usually separate from the free content and may carry a fee. The relationship between free learning and recognized qualifications remains a work in progress.
Systematic institutional policies. Written policies that commit an institution to using and sharing open materials exist, but they are far from universal.
Sustained maintenance. Many open resources are created with a burst of effort or short-term funding and then drift out of date. Long-term upkeep is a persistent weak spot.
Signs that a claim about adoption is reliable
When someone says that open online learning is “widespread” or “still marginal”, a few checks help.
- Does the source say what it counted? A survey of university teachers says little about schools or workplaces.
- Is the sample described? Respondents who chose to answer an online survey about open education may be more interested in it than average.
- Is the date recent? Practices in this area have shifted quickly, and older figures can mislead.
- Does it separate “free” from “openly licensed”? Combining them inflates apparent adoption.
- Does it distinguish use from awareness? Knowing that open resources exist is not the same as using them.
A reasonable overall reading
Put simply, online delivery is mainstream, free content is abundant, and open licensing is familiar but less deeply embedded than either. The combination, meaning courses that are both delivered online and built on openly licensed material, is common in some corners, particularly introductory courses and self-directed learning, and uncommon in others. It is neither a fringe curiosity nor the default.
That description will keep changing, and readers who need current detail for a specific country, subject or institution should consult recent sources aimed at that setting rather than relying on general statements.