OER to OEP with Students as Partners [1501] Members : #OER17

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Public Group Active 7 years ago

Thu, Apr 6 2017, 2:50pm – 3:50pm

Authors: Heather Smith, and Grant Potter

Room: Seminar 6

Theme: Inst/Org Politics

Type: Presentations

Description

How do we foster the adoption of open educational resources in our institution and support cultural change necessary to ensure long term sustainability of open practices within institutions? The proposed presentation asks this question in an local context and shares insights gleaned from the creation of the University of Northern British Columbia Open Educational Resources Grant and through the session delegates will see that through accessing multiple leverage points, building on institutional and regional collaborations, and inclusion of students in OER initiatives, we have been able to see shifts in the institutional OER culture. Our findings are contextualized in our local and provide insights that are regionally, nationally and internationally applicable.

Consistent with provincial and international work done on OER adoption (Jhangiani et al. 2016) UNBC has faced institutional barriers to the adoption of OER (OER Research Hub. 2015). However, in 2016 we secured one time funding to promote the adoption of OER at UNBC. Unique to this grant is the requirement that faculty use the funds to hire students to be research partners in the OER development. While in its early stages, we can see that the grant has provided opportunities for faculty to engage in OER development, brought existing resource projects forward into openly licensed offerings, and included students in project-based learning through via OER development.

In this session, we will share with delegates how this shift has been fostered. As noted above, we have worked with and benefited from multiple leverage points, including shifts in national grant funding policies towards open practices (Science.Gc.Ca, 2016), provincial advocacy of OER with university vice presidents, and internal opportunities for funding requiring student centred focus and deliverables. Leverage points were furthered due to the willingness of BCCampus to provide matching funding for the OER grant which significantly enhanced our internal grant application. Finally, the inclusion of students in our OER grant is significant because while Faculty are the key decision makers for OER adoption (Allen et al. 2014.) students are fundamental catalyst of OER adoption.

Ultimately, delegates will see that politics of OER are also the politics of everyday practice. Cultural shifts require a confluence of forces and that an essential site for cultural change is in our local.

Allen, E & Seaman, J. 2014. Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/openingthecurriculum2014.pdf. [Accessed 10 November 2016].

Jhangiani,R.S., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & Lalonde, C. 2016. Exploring Faculty Use of Open Educational Resources At British Columbia Postsecondary Institutions. [Online] Available at: https://bccampus.ca/files/2016/01/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf. [Accessed 14 November 2016].

OER Research Hub. 2015. Educators: OER Research Hub. [ONLINE] Available at: https://oerresearchhub.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/educators_final_oerrhdata.pdf. [Accessed 11 November 2016].

Science.Gc.Ca – Minister Holder Announces New Open Access Policy For Research [ONLINE]. Science.gc.ca. Available at: http://www.science.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=415B5097-1 [Accessed 12 November 2016]

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