Into the Labyrinth : A PhD Comprehensive Portfolio

OER

     Open educational resources (OER) are free, openly accessible, openly licensed educational materials (text, media, and digital assets) that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes (UNESCO, 2019). The term OER encompasses publicly accessible materials available to anyone to reuse, remix, revise, improve and redistribute under license formats that frequently include Creative Commons licensing frameworks. While the use and application of OER has transformative potential when the benefits of sharing across institutions and countries are fully realized, it relies on individuals in educational settings to become open in the ways “they produce and share knowledge, in the way they teach and assess students, and in collaborating with others” (Inamorato dos Santos, 2019, p. 7).
     Since the Cape Town Open Education Declaration in 2007 (Hodgkinson-Williams & Gray, 2009) and 2012 Paris OER Declaration (n.d.), the United Nations and UNESCO have advocated and promoted the use and creation of OER to uphold open education initiatives in support of the SDGs in education (UNESCO, 2012). In 2017, the Ljubljana Action Plan provided direction in building capacity, ensuring inclusive and equitable access, and developing sustainability models for the development of policy and environments for OER (Jožef Stefan Institute Centre for Knowledge Transfer in Information Technologies, 2020). In 2019, the UN General Conference adopted a recommendation outlining five areas of action for OER: a) build capacity to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER; b) foster supporting policies; c) inspire inclusive, accessible, and equitable OER; d) develop models to sustain OER; and e) accelerate international teamwork (UNESCO, 2019). This sets a global direction for OER to be recognized and supported as an area for growth within each country. Here in Canada, the development of OER and open education relies on provincially funded educational initiatives. A pan-Canadian organization is helping to open up the traditionally siloed educational K-20+ sector (BCCampus OpenEd website). Networks of educators are building collaborative OER as part of course work, with students as active agents of information generation. For this research, the primary focus will not be on the production of OER but rather the shift in teaching practices that may or may not include the use, creation, or assessment of OER.

This page has paths: