The Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL) organised a two day workshop at USP from May 25th – 26th, 2017 in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to improve a draft institutional policy on Open Educational Resources (OER). The workshop was co-facilitated by Professor Som Naidu, Pro Vice Chancellor Flexible Learning and Director Centre for Flexible Learning and Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Education Specialist eLearning from COL.
The event was officially opened by Professor Jito Vanualailai, Director Research. In his opening remarks, Professor Vanualailai reiterated the University’s commitment to the open education movement, especially with news of planned enhancements to the USP network with faster connectivity and data transmission. The two day event was attended by a total of 30 participants from the three Faculties, the office of DVCLTSS, Library, the Planning and Quality Office, Disability Resource Centre, PACFOLD, USP Students Association and CFL.
At the start of the session, Professor Naidu explained the goal and purpose of the meeting. As part of his introductory remarks Professor Naidu explained the history behind the OER movement, its characteristics and in particular its value principles. He stated that, “we needed to understand the connection between the Mission and Goals of a University such as this and the need to adopt the use of open educational resources and open educational practice more broadly”.
He stated that engagement with open educational practice and the adoption of OER was driven by a belief and value system which suggested that the products of publically funded and supported research and scholarship ought to be shared openly and freely by all. He explained that this kind of sharing (of the products of research and scholarship) with others openly and freely DID NOT mean relinquishing of ownership and IP. It simply meant using a different kind of license — an open license which allowed use, reuse and redistribution at no cost, but with appropriate attribution of course.
Dr. Mishra elaborated on the points raised by Professor Naidu especially with regard to his experiences with OER policy development around the world. Of particular interest was the clarification and distinction of the various categories of open licenses available to use. He stated that the OER initiative should be built on three pillars, which were:
- Policy formulation;
- Capacity building; and
- Appropriate institutional mechanisms and facilities.
Both presentations set the tone for the discussions around the draft USP OER policy that followed. In groups, the participants were asked to identify certain existing institutional policies that would have an impact on the draft OER policy. This was followed by a SWOT analysis of the adoption of OER and OEP at the University with regard to OER. Some of the key points raised were:
- The role of OER in preserving our cultural heritage;
- The potential of OER in reducing workload and improving efficiency;
- The need to have quality control mechanisms for OER in place;
- Commitment from Senior Management Team in terms of articulation in the next strategic plan; and
- Human Resource implications.
The two day workshop concluded with presentations from the groups feeding back to the various sections of the draft OER policy in terms of strengthening its scope, content and application. Professor Som Naidu thanked Dr. Mishra and the participants for availing themselves and the support they continued to show for the OER movement. He also thanked the CFL team that organised the workshop.
Videos from the USP OER Policy Development Workshop, 25th – 26th May 2017
Inauguration of the workshop and introductory remarks by Prof. Jito Vanualailai (USP Research Office)
Workshop goals, Work on OER/OEP @ USP, Introduction to OEP by Prof. Som Naidu (USP PVC Flexible Learning and Director – Centre for Flexible Learning)
OER @ USP: SWOT Analysis by Dr. Sanjaya Mishra (Commonwealth of Learning)
Workshop closing remarks (USP PVC Flexible Learning and Director – Centre for Flexible Learning)