OPEN Policy 101 Video Tutorials

“Changing policy isn’t the equivalent of changing culture. As you are working toward establishing a policy, it’s just as important to begin planning for how that policy is going to be implemented.”

Participants

• Hal Plotkin, Senior Open Policy Fellow at Creative Commons, Former Senior Policy Advisor to Undersecretary of Education in the US Department of Education.
• Nicole Allen, Director of Open Education at SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition.

Summary

This segment provides background knowledge and terminology on OER policy. Plotkin and Allen first discuss what policy means and develop a tweet-sized summary of OER policy. Then, Allen further identifies the types of OER policies, illustrates how OER policies have been implemented at the federal level, and discusses the benefits of having OER policies at the governance level. Plotkin identifies another benefit of OER Policy in creating opportunities for collaboration between institutions who share similar policies. Afterward, they switch gears and discuss when/how people know it is time for a policy discussion to take place. Allen states that it is important to respect institutional differences and needs. They continue the conversation by addressing the relationship between OER policy and changing culture, and share ideas for successful implementation strategies of OER policy to achieve true cultural shift. They also touch on the impact of digital technologies on open policies. Finally, they conclude the conversation by discussing opportunities for international collaboration around open educational resources.

Guiding Inquiries

• What is OER policy?
• What are the types, goals, and audiences for OER policy?
• What is the relationship between OER policy and culture change?
• What is the status quo of OER policy at the federal and international level?
• What is the relationship between digital technologies and open policies?
• Why is now the time for a discussion about open policy?

Suggested Activities 

Try defining OER policy in your own words. Consider using these elements to characterize OER policy: Format, Condition, Nature, and Traits

• Allen states that it was not always necessary to pass a policy to be effective in advancing OER. Think of a case where the policy is a necessary step to promote OER and also a case that would not require policy to make OER effective.
  • OER policies will be needed if the environment has these traits…
  • OER policies may not be necessary if the environment has these traits…
• Among types of OER policy introduced (1:03), which one do you feel resonates with your institution’s situation and needs the most? Why?
• This segment presented some of the critical policy changes in OER from the federal level. How will this impact OER implementation at a local institution?

Participants 

• Hal Plotkin, Senior Open Policy Fellow at Creative Commons, Former Senior Policy Advisor to Under Secretary of Education in the US Department of Education.
• Paul Stacey, Associate Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons.

Summary

This segment spotlights the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant Program as a prime case of OER policy implementation on a national scale. Plotkin first provides the contextual background of the initiation of the program. Then he raises issues regarding public access to publicly funded materials and the extra cost needed to create the same materials. In response, Stacey shares his experience overseeing TAACCCT program and how the participating faculty are leveraging the existing resources to create opportunities for innovation. He further discusses that the OER developed through this process connects employers and educators by providing curricula that matches employer needs. Stacey also introduces the Skills Commons, a public repository for all TAACCCT produced materials. Stacey and Plotkin move on to discuss the open licensing requirement of the grant, which mandates that all of the intellectual property created by the grants had to be released under Creative Commons Attribution license. Finally, Stacey introduces Stacked Credentials as a way for OER to help accelerate the development of high growth areas of industries. They conclude the conversation by discussing the impact of open access on increasing transparency at every step of education and career opportunities.

Guiding Inquiries:  

• What is the role of open policies with regards to renewable public investments vs. consumable public investments?
• How does an open licensing requirement affect overall implementation of a project?
• An open licensing requirement for large-scale grants is now more widespread than before. What is the intention and motivation behind these requirements?

Suggested Activities:

• One simple open licensing policy requirement by the US DOE made the works of 700 TAACCCT grantee colleges freely accessible to the public. Consider what other areas could benefit similar public policy changes and share your thoughts with colleagues.
• Imagine yourself as a director of Open Education at your institution. What policy changes do you think would help promote OER use? For example, some adjunct faculty members wish that their department would explicitly endorse the use of OER. If college/department has a policy that allows adjuncts to use OER upon approval by the department, it will help adjuncts adopt more OER and create a welcoming climate for generalized OER practices.
• Policy is a simple statement. However, policy implementation is another significant challenge. Hypothesize that your institution has a similar open licensing policy as the TAACCCT Grant. What are the key principles of planning for policy implementation?

Participants

• Mary Burgess, Executive Director at BCcampus.

• Paul Stacey, Associate Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons.

Summary

This segment tells a story of a highly successful Open Textbook project in British Columbia, Canada and how the project sustained momentum and funding. Stacey and Burgess, former and current Directors of Open Education at BCcampus first discuss the history of the Open Textbook Project and illustrate the key elements that influenced the initiative’s early success. One of the key elements they identify is their continuous data collection effort around student access and student affordability. They also discuss the recent growth in the adoption of OER and report that there have been 103 open textbooks in the BC collection. In discussing sustainability and capacity building across the system, they point out that sustainability is not so much about ongoing grant funding but about integrating this into the regular daily operations of an institution and the way faculty and staff work. Then they move to discuss how this regionally funded project by the Ministry of Advanced Education has been widely adopted beyond British Columbia, and how additional partnerships have emerged. Finally, they conclude the session by sharing their tips on how to maintain the academic rigor of the materials they produce, such as their review process that uses same criteria that any textbook would be evaluated against.

Guiding Inquiries:

• How do you engage and educate high-level stakeholders in the early phases of a project?

• What’s the evidence of success that allows a project, such as the BC Open Textbook project, to sustain momentum and funding for the project? What kinds of data is needed to demonstrate the program’s impact and help determine next steps?

• How does an initiative of this type promote and sustain participation among the faculty? What types of funding, policy and support do you provide to make the project attractive and professionally useful to participants?

• Can a local project gain policy support for OER development on a broader scale?