OK for learners too

When I became an academic, I thought my job was to seek answers and make them public - the more people who had access, the more valued the work would be. I quickly learned that the rewards have been most traditionally situated in elitism and limited access: the more prestigious and expensive a journal, the more valued the published works. Peter Suber has given me hope for the realization of my naivety. I know this is not a new, novel, or revelatory idea, but he speaks so reasonably about Open Knowledge being a strategy for "testing and validation of knowledge claims." I want to go further in this thought. Considering the value of the learner's public sharing of knowledge, I believe we do them a disservice when we collect works, grade them, and discard or file them. Making work public does more for understanding our own thought processes, strengths, and weaknesses than any grade can do. Let's share the richness of our experience as educators, whose work is public, with our students and provide them opportunities to push their knowledge to others - and learn about themselves in the process.