Open Education and Bildung: Ideas, Assumptions, and Their Vigour to Transform Higher Education

Abstract

We are witnessing tremendous changes and transformations in learning and education due to the advancement of digital technologies. This pertains not only to various forms of e-learning but also to more recent sorts of open online learning environments such as MOOCs or P2P-University. As Bell (2011) has argued, learning theories fall short of explaining change in learning activities as these theories do not consider the complexity of technology, social network, and individual activities. Therefore, this paper revisits the German concept of Bildung (Formation) to get a better understanding of the ongoing changes in learning environments, especially in informal Higher Education.