Open-source software is often celebrated for its transparency, adaptability, and freedom. Yet in the field of educational technology, openness is typically confined to code and licensing. What often remains closed and hidden are the pedagogical assumptions and implicit theories of learning embedded in EdTech solutions.

This talk argues that truly open educational technology must also practice open pedagogy: making visible, debatable, and adaptable the learning theories and teaching principles that shape the design of digital tools. Every platform, from a learning management system to an AI tutor, carries with it a view of what learning is—whether objectivist or constructivist. These views structure what is possible for teachers and learners, often without being acknowledged and explicit.
By drawing on the distinction between the grammar of schooling (institutional routines and constraints) and the grammar of learning (the evolutionary and socio-cultural dynamics of human learning), the talk shows how even open-source projects risk reinforcing old models of schooling if they do not surface their pedagogical underpinnings.

Open pedagogy for open EdTech means aligning transparency of code with transparency of pedagogy. It involves co-creating tools with educators, embedding multiple pedagogical options, and allowing communities to adapt technologies to their own learning contexts. Only then can open-source EdTech move beyond technical freedom to support genuine learning sovereignty.