OEGlobal 2024

Open Educational Resources (OER) have emerged as a promising strategy for addressing several critical challenges facing higher education today—completion rates, student learning, and affordability—and this proposed presentation explores the potential of OER as a high-impact practice (HIP). While OER advocates have long touted the cost-saving and accessibility benefits of OER, empirical evidence supporting the impact on student success metrics is limited and conflicted.

Currently, some evidence suggests that underserved populations in higher education do benefit from the use of OER (Colvard et al., 2018); however, while research on OER’s impact on student success (e.g., grades, GPA, course completion) in general exists, the results have only definitively shown that OER do not adversely affect students, as they perform the same or better when OER are implemented. These limitations in existing research complicate OER advocacy efforts, as faculty and administrators are hesitant to adopt practices and fund initiatives without compelling support.

In response, a team of AAC&U researchers is engaged in a large-scale study, funded by the Hewlett Foundation, to expand the OER conversation on student success. We are investigating the impact of OER on measures of student success at 17 U.S.-based institutions representing all six primary higher education institution categories officially recognized in the United States. The participating institutions enroll an array of students reflective of a diverse nation and include HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Tribal Colleges and Universities, and HSIs (Hispanic-Serving Institutions). A key aim of this work is to frame and disseminate a robust, data- and assessment-based argument for OER as a HIP. Through the selection of 17 diverse institutions representative of the U.S. higher-education landscape, we are framing a broad-sweeping argument that is not only representative of our students but also closely examines and deepens the conversation around OER significantly benefiting historically underserved students, as befits any practice deemed “high-impact.”

In addition to examining student success metrics, we also aim to operationalize and assess the notion of “high-quality” OER implementation within courses by delving into educator and institutional practices that lead to the most positive impact on students. We aspire to create a framework for assessing OER practices that instructors can use to evaluate and improve their own OER implementation practices. Through this work, we aim to construct a compelling case that OER are, indeed, a high-impact practice.

Included in [Session 2E]: OER in Higher Education

References
Colvard, N. B., Watson, C. E., & Park, H. (2018). The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 30(2), 262-276.

Author Keywords
Student Success, High-Impact Practices, OER Implementation

As human beings, we have always had a shared destiny with technology, yet now and then, a technology emerges that profoundly alters (and shapes) the ways we live, work, and relate with one another. GenAI is one such example. The recent surge in scale, complexity, and prevalence of this technological system is unprecedented, blurring the lines between physical, biological, and digital realms.

Amidst this dynamic landscape of human-technological encounters, the FutureFocus GenAI Program is a response to the need to slow down and think deeply about the kinds of societies and individuals we are becoming, particularly in the world of work. This presentation unpacks how Deakin University's FutureFocus GenAI Program is designed to navigate the speed and velocity of this evolving terrain, especially the demand for novel collaborations between academia and industry.

Functioning as an instantiation of Open Educational Practice, this program follows a multidisciplinary community of inquiry comprising academics and professionals. These collaborations operate in the liminal space between higher education and industry by adopting a practice-led and process-oriented approach. A deeply reflexive positioning that aims to produce recommendations and provide evidence-based insights crucial for shaping the future education and training of professionals across a variety of fields. This is a speculative project that privileges a multidimensional view of the rapid proliferation of GenAI tools, techniques, and interactions to inform the design of authentic educational experiences for the graduates of today, tomorrow and the future.



Included in [Session 2E]: OER in Higher Education

Author Keywords
• Artificial Intelligence, • Open educational practices, • Open education strategy, • Open practitioners

Access to education and educational materials is a global issue. Intellectual property (IP) law and policy govern the way educational materials can be accessed and used. The restrictions that are imposed by strong IP governance can play a ‘critical role’ in the way humans are afforded opportunities to live full lives. According to human development theory, removing barriers that impose restrictions on a person’s freedom can assist in human development and growth.

There is a clear and deep connection between a person’s freedom and the possibility of social development— an individual’s ability to progress and achieve is significantly influenced by the opportunities and access they have to certain freedoms such as financial stability, political liberty, social choice, basic education, access to medicine, and support and encouragement for their development. If individuals are provided ‘adequate social opportunities’, such as the ability to access and engage with education and educational materials, they ‘…can effectively shape their own destiny and help each other’.

By attempting to address some of the problems associated with access to educational materials, aspects of the educational experience may be improved for those in higher education. By drawing on human development theory to better understand the governance of knowledge within the context of higher education, I explore the social problems encountered within publishing, and in Open Education Resources (OER). Specifically, the social dilemmas relating to access, flow of information, collective action, and the intersection of formal IP laws and the non-formal rules and practices of the communities who create, disseminate, and consume the knowledge resources. Lastly, I consider how open publishing in higher education provides an avenue to highlight significant issues such as those contained in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The use of open publishing in education, including the publishing of open textbooks, has the potential to help us develop more equity in higher education by providing avenues for individuals to access information and knowledge without the strict IP governance that is associated with traditional educational materials. Such a holistic approach to education publishing aligns with many of the goals of human development as it supports freedom and provides greater social opportunities for individuals to flourish.

In the absence of change to the IP framework, open publishing provides an alternative which has the tools and capacities to support the goals of human development. A more grounded, holistic approach to publishing for education offers a framework to better support and consider social justice issues relating to access and the use of IP such as diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as avenues to highlight issues related to sustainable development.



Included in [Session 2E]: OER in Higher Education

References
Julia Janewa OseiTutu, ‘Human Development as a Core Objective of Global Intellectual Property’ (2016) 105(1) Kentucky Law Journal 1, 1;

Madhavi Sunder, From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice (Yale University Press, 2012);

Madhavi Sunder, ‘IP3’ (2006) 59(2) Stanford Law Review 257;

Ruth L Okediji, ‘Reframing International Copyright Limitations and Exceptions as Development Policy’ in Ruth L Okediji (ed), Copyright Law in an Age of Limitations and Exceptions (Cambridge University Press, 2017) 429;

Martha C Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities The Human Development Approach (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011);

Margaret Chon, ‘Intellectual Property and the Development Divide’ (2006) 27(6) Cardonzo Law Review 2821;

Amartya Sen, ‘Capability and Well-Being’ in Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen (eds), The Quality of Life (Oxford University Press, 1993) 30, 33.

Author Keywords
Open Education, Open Publishing, Sustainable Development Goals, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion

Open Educational Practices (OEP) are supported and implemented differently in the primary and secondary sectors compared to the tertiary sector. This is observable in the types of OER they prefer (ancillary materials compared to textbooks, respectively; Blomgren 2018) and the incentives that have evolved to make open education count (McKinney, 2024). The latest Bayview Analytics Reports (Seaman & Seaman, 2023) also reveal disparities in OER awareness and use; preK12 is becoming more aware but only a third of the population knows they exist compared to two-thirds of higher education faculty. Moreover, differences in governance and funding mechanisms fundamentally impact how materials are adopted and how instructors make choices about the materials they use in their classrooms. These differences complicate how institutions at all levels support and reward instructors who want to engage in OEP and keep these sectors siloed and isolated. However, by continuing to be siloed in practice rather than working together as boundary spanners (Walz & Farley, 2023), the OEP community is missing its greatest potential contributor to pedagogical innovation and creativity. The mutual isolation of these two sectors is a major threat to the sustainability of OEP. Addressing this gap is also important in providing equitable quality education which is a UN Sustainable Development Goal. This presentation will explore and compare the distinctive characteristics of open education at different educational levels in North America. We identify factors that generate or influence these structural barriers and suggest practices and models that can solve the siloing of these two communities. This presentation suggests a framework for how to move forward and is relevant to a variety of stakeholders (education, government, and non-profit) who can act on these recommendations. We end with a brief overview of several projects across these sectors doing critical work as boundary spanners who bridge these gaps in meaningful ways.

Finally, this presentation sets the groundwork for a panel session (also under review) whereby a diverse group of leaders across sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary, government) discuss their work in OEP and propose opportunities in which they could work as boundary spanners to address the sustainability of OEP in collaboration with other educational sectors and partners.



Included in [Session 11B]: Sustainability

References
Blomgren, C. (2018). OER Awareness and Use: The Affinity Between Higher Education and K-12. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19, 55-70. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i2.3431

McKinney, A. (Ed.). (2024). Valuing OER in the tenure, promotion, and reappointment process. CUNY Academic Works. Retrieved from https://pressbooks.cuny.edu/tenureandpromotioncasestudies

Seaman, J.E. & Seaman, J. (2023). Curricula of Many Sources Educational Resources in U.S. K-12 Education, 2023. Bay View Analytics.

Walz, A., & Farley, J. (2023). Making Open Educational Resources with and for PreK12: A Collaboration Toolkit for Higher Education. Virginia Tech Libraries. Retrieved May 1, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.21061/OER_PreK12_highered

Author Keywords
open educational practices, barriers and incentives, bridging educational sectors, boundary spanners

The rise of generative AI has called into question many cornerstones of teaching, including the need for textbooks. Students increasingly use AI tools to efficiently find and collate information in lieu of both traditional and open textbooks. One argument for responding to this has been to embed AI within open educational resources (OER) or train AI using OER (Bozkurt, 2023).

Our presentation, by contrast, presents evidence of major advantages that OER have over both traditional textbooks and AI-centric retrieval and collation of information. This is based on our experiences of generating Third Spaces (Whitchurch, 2012) to co-create open textbooks through collaborative projects between STEM academics, the La Trobe eBureau (open education program), and more recently students themselves.

Our open pedagogy journey led us from OER development towards open educational practices (OEP) that cultivate authentic assessment, peer-assisted learning, and enhanced teacher presence. We started by developing two open textbooks targeted at early undergraduate students of biology and/or biomedical science:
• Foundations of Biomedical Science: Quantitative Literacy
• Threshold Concepts in Biochemistry

The initial aim of these resources was to improve quantitative literacy and focus on key threshold concepts in biochemistry to support La Trobe students. A key challenge was navigating the tension between a resource useful for a broad audience but also serving specific cohort needs. However, in doing so we have surpassed our initial focus by enabling new practices that are uniquely possible through OER and have implications for the future design of OEP and open pedagogy.

It is widely understood that engagement in the learning experience requires more than just acquisition of new knowledge, full engagement is facilitated by connection with both peers and instructors (Stone and Springer, 2019). This teacher presence supports student engagement, increased retention, and learning outcomes using content developed by their face-to-face instructors and in which the instructor themselves is present (Mandernach et al., 2018). The modular nature of our texts coupled with permissive open licensing allows local personalisation and reuse to expand this teacher presence.

We will demonstrate how OER include both educators and learners as active agents, making open everyone’s business. A large body of work emphasises the importance of peer assisted learning in higher education, particularly for learning key skills (Stigmar et al. 2016). Embedding student created content in our open educational text has improved engagement and the quality of work while decoupling accreditation from being the sole motivating factor and also allowing us to showcase students as role models.

Finally, we have extended the content and increased its relevance to students by building in aspects of professional identity and representation which is known to influence retention and influences career trajectories (Huffmyer et al., 2022). To this end we have embedded videos of professionals representing a range of career aspirations of students demonstrating how the content is relevant to their work and offering authentic advice to study. We were also able to specifically showcase Australian and New Zealand contributions as well as the contribution of women to modern biology.

Included in [Session 2E]: OER in Higher Education

References
Bozkurt, A. (2023) ‘Generative AI, Synthetic Contents, Open Educational Resources (OER), and Open Educational Practices (OEP): A New Front in the Openness Landscape’, Open Praxis, 15(3), p. 178–184. Available at: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.3.579.

Huffmyer, A. S., O'Neill, T., & Lemus, J. D. (2022). Evidence for Professional Conceptualization in Science as an Important Component of Science Identity. CBE life sciences education, 21(4), ar76. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-12-0280

Mandernach, B. J., Robertson, S. N., & Steele, J. P. (2018). Beyond Content: The Value of Instructor-Student Connections in the Online Classroom. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v18i4.23430

Stigmar, M. (2016). Peer-to-peer Teaching in Higher Education: A Critical Literature Review. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 24(2), 124–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2016.1178963

Stone, C., & Springer, M. (2019). Interactivity, connectedness and 'teacher-presence': Engaging and retaining students online. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 59(2), 146–169.

Whitchurch, C. (2012). Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education: The rise of 'Third Space' professionals (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203098301

Author Keywords
open textbooks, open educational practices, open practitioner development, open pedagogy, STEM, sciences, biochemistry, biology, teacher presence, students as authors, authentic assessment

Open education invites communities to envision a future in which access to educational opportunities is open, inclusive, and transformative. This vision requires intentional consideration of issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In the United States, some states have passed legislation which prohibit public institutions of higher education from using federal funds to support initiatives exploring DEI, going so far as to prevent participation in conferences, committees, and publications with a named emphasis on these topics. The weaponization of language has led universities across the country to rebrand departments and titles involving DEI- even in states without anti-DEI legislation to preemptively safeguard this important work.

With DEI under attack, is the solution to change the language, to redefine the acronym that has become a politicized buzzword? Some believe that if the language is updated to covertly allow practitioners to continue, this will lead to benefits. But with this ‘optimized’ language, we run the risk of having a false impression of benefit and doing actual harm.

Participants in this session will engage in discussion to consider how the purpose and outcome of the work can be accomplished by integrating DEI into practice in ways that reflect understanding of the core meaning and bypassing now prohibited language.



Included in [Session 3C]: Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Author Keywords
DEI, Language, Anti-DEI Legislation, Weaponization of Language

Although open education is embraced within the international higher education sector, it is still an emerging practice in Australia. Over the last decade, a growing number of studies have started to explore open education in Australia. However, many of these studies are limited either by their focus on a specific institutional context or on open educational resources which represent only one part of open educational practice (OEP) more broadly. Australia’s higher education sector currently has a limited evidence base to inform the adoption of OEP. This has serious implications for how well Australian higher education – in which the nation invests $116.4 billion in public funds per year – can achieve the Australian Government’s commitment for quality, accessibility, affordability and sustainability for the nation’s higher education sector as articulated in the University Accord.

This presentation outlines preliminary findings from a phenomenographic study aimed at exploring Australian academics experiences of OEP. Phenomenography is a qualitative, interpretive and descriptive approach to research that explores the different ways in which people experience various phenomena and situations in the world around them. In this study, academics employed in Australian universities were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. The academics interviewed came from various disciplines, universities, and academic levels. They had differing years of experience as academics, and varying levels of familiarity with OEP.

This research can enhance open educational culture and practice in Australian higher education. By revealing varying levels of adoption and challenges, the study informs policy development, professional programs, and promotes equity and collaboration. Ultimately, these insights can improve teaching practices and student outcomes. Addressing the conference theme "Open is Everyone’s Business," the study highlights diverse educator engagement with OEP, showing that fostering a culture of openness requires collective effort and benefits the entire academic community.



Included in [Session 3E]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
Open educational practices, Open educational practitioner, Lived experiences, Phenomenography

Since Open is everyone’s business, and Generative Artificial Intelligence is portrayed as a mechanism whereby to scale education for everyone everywhere, it is fundamentally problematic that large language models, which are utilised, amongst other functions, for the translation of texts, literally require a very large corpora of texts - on both sides - to function adequately. To demonstrate this, examples will be given of problematic translations from English into isiXhosa, which produce errors even at an elementary level of education.

Practitioners from the Global South realistically fear a widening of the divide as a result of the fact that many local, indigenous languages only have a small corpus of texts online. This could potentially lead to a data race, and concerns would be raised as to whether copyright may be violated in the uploading of texts. But the far more overarching concern is that of an increased dominance of already dominant languages, which could be read as a re-colonisation and negatively impact on local indigenous cultures and ways of knowing as well as impacting on the dissemination of indigenous knowledge systems.

The presentation will reflect on how Generative Artificial Intelligence functions, systematically cover issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access that arise as a result of using it when only a small corpus of texts is available, and then ask participants to reflect upon open education policies and strategies that arise as a result especially given potential negative impacts in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, AI in this context not only relates to SDG 4, but also on 6 & 7 in terms of sustainability as AI consumes massive amounts of fossil fuels and also water, 9 in terms of the infrastructure required, 10 in terms of inequality and 12 in terms of responsible consumption and production.

The presentation will also refer to recent research indicating that while the power of the model has grown and grown with the size of the training datasets, that recent evidence is that these power curves are starting to level off and this has implications in terms of sustainability.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

Author Keywords
Artificial intelligence, Sustainability, Open education policy and strategies, Inclusion diversity equity and access, Local Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing

As OER are increasingly in use across higher education, access to formal publications and research focused on OER and OEP become imperative. Beyond the critical importance of backing our educational choices with evidence, asking imperative questions about the benefits of OER to aid decision-makers is key to furthering the cause across education internationally. During this session, we will explore an open-access web-based archive of publications specifically developed to support practitioners, decision-makers, and researchers alike as they implement, investigate, and learn more about open resources and pedagogies in education. This work is rooted in a large-scale research study focused on advancing the conversation on OER beyond affordability, and having OER literature collected in (and easily accessible through) an online database has allowed us to discover the bigger picture behind OER scholarship, and how trends have shifted over time.

This session will take you on the journey of OER as told through trends in the literature, from an engaging demo where participants will be some of the first to explore the database to defining what we seem to actually know (and don’t know) about OER to–perhaps the most critical piece of all–asking what we can do to keep this important focus on open resources and practices moving forward in education internationally.

In this archive of OER/OEP-focused publications, we have collected and cited over a thousand formal publications whose main focus is OER or OEP, and further coded themes and categories illustrating the landscape of literature . The database includes a variety of publication types, from peer-reviewed journal articles to books and book chapters to reports from relevant organizations. All publications were qualitatively coded by a team of researchers and organized into main categories (OER, OEP), key subgroups detailing the type of information included in the publication (from descriptive to several types of empirical research), and inherent themes across the categories and subgroups highlighting areas of interest within the literature as well as clear gaps in what we know about open practices and resources in education (e.g., student outcomes, student perceptions, faculty perceptions, affordability, policy). This coding scheme also aids users in seeking out exactly what they need from hundreds of publications.We will share the trends we unearthed, data visualizations, and key examples of OER/OEP publications in this presentation. Participants will also have the opportunity to offer feedback on this emerging tool via an anonymous survey as we continue to expand and develop this work. Overall, we seek to support practitioners, researchers, and decision-makers as they identify and use scholarly literature when implementing and arguing for the use of OER at their institutions, thus practicing the science of teaching and learning.

Included in [Session 3E]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
Research database, Repository, Scholarly Landscape

Integrating place-based learning into Open Educational Resources (OER) represents a dynamic approach to engaging students within the Natural Sciences. Our initiative spans across various disciplines, including botany, agriculture, biology, zoology, and marine biology, weaving local content into the fabric of our curriculum. Place-based learning (Sobel, 2004) is a well known concept that incorporates the local environment and cultural aspects of place into the curriculum.

In Hawai‘i, this framework is also called ʻĀina-based pedagogy (Ledward, 2013; Maunakea, 2021). ʻĀina is the Hawaiian word for “land,” which means that which feeds (Goodyear-Ka'ōpua, 2009). ʻĀina-based education is grounded in teaching and learning through a Hawaiian worldview, which actively incorporates the land, ocean, air, and all living things into the learning process. By embracing ʻāina-centered methodologies, individuals develop a meaningful relationship with the Hawaiʻi landscape, foster community ties, and develop critical skills in the sciences.

Traditional textbooks for natural sciences often lack information that can ground students in learning through ‘āina, as they typically offer generic examples of concepts found in other places. Therefore, developing and integrating materials that are localized has been the center of our work. Our pedagogical approach lies in open collaboration, empowering students as they actively shape content and enrich both local and global communities. Additionally, collaborating with librarians to develop libguides and curate other types of research support materials has enhanced student research. By engaging with these methodologies, students can learn about the place, culture, history, and language while building critical skills in the natural sciences.

In this presentation, we delve into examples showcasing our commitment to open pedagogy. From harnessing the power of conducting original research and leveraging digital platforms such as websites, libguides, and Wiki Edu, we illuminate diverse avenues for content creation that honors inclusion and diversity. Moreover, we explore our innovative class structures, designed to immerse students in experiential learning through semester-long projects. This teaching and learning environment through open pedagogy is highly reliant on the unique expertise of our Hawai’i-Pacific Resource Librarian and other indigenous faculty on campus. These collaborations are critical to teach through a cultural lens and empower students to learn through local resources.

Together, these strategies not only cultivate a deeper connection to ‘āina but also nurture a sense of stewardship and curiosity essential for lifelong learning and connection to cultural practices. Participants in this session can expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of how place-based learning and OER can be integrated into the Natural Sciences curriculum from faculty and librarian perspectives.



Included in [Session 3C]: Diversity Equity and Inclusion

References
Goodyear-Ka'ōpua, N. (2009). Rebuilding the ‘auwai: Connecting ecology, economy and education in Hawaiian schools. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 5(2), 46-77.

Ledward, B. (2013). ʻĀina-based learning is new old wisdom at work. Hūlili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being, 9, 35-48.

Maunakea, S. P. (2021). Toward a framework for ʻāina-based pedagogies: A Hawaiʻi approach to indigenous land-based education. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 21(10).

Sobel, D. (2004). Place-based education: Connecting classrooms and communities. Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 17(3), 63-64.

Author Keywords
Place-based, Hawaiian Flora and Fauna, Open pedagogy

The possibilities for using AI in education are exploding. AI is already widely used in education, and with the recent emergence of generative AI, the possibilities are being more actively explored. However, ethical concerns about the use of AI continue to arise. In particular, teachers, who take the lead in education, need to be empowered with ethical competencies that consider the impact of AI and digital technologies while using AI.

Accordingly, this study aims to develop a framework for teachers' ethical competencies in AI and its sub competencies and behavioral indicators. To this end, an initial competency framework and behavioral indicators were developed through a systematic literature review. At the same time, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 in-service teachers and implications were derived according to Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis procedure.

The findings of the study, based on the synthesis of the literature review and the interview results, revealed a set of AI ethics competencies for teachers consisting of awareness, judgment, and practice, with corresponding sub-competencies and behavioral indicators. This study has significance in that it systematically presents the ethical competencies of teachers for coexistence with AI amid the ongoing development of AI from a post-humanistic perspective.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

Author Keywords
AI in Education, Ethical Competence, Teacher Education

Given the broad reach of open educational resources (OER), efforts to design materials in an inclusive manner required the consideration of the diverse backgrounds of those accessing them. Public health research has revealed that one in five adults have been exposed to a potentially traumatic event. Given that reminders of these events can spur stress reactions that interfere with learning, those who develop OER can benefit from learning about trauma-informed practices to avoid such adverse experiences amongst students.

This presentation will introduce the strategies for instructional design that are aligned with the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations (SAMSHA) six key principles of a trauma-informed approach: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice and choice; and cultural, historical and gender issues. Examples will be shared from OER resources by the authors - including texts, toolkits, podcasts and online courses.

The presentation will highlight the utility of OER for educators in higher education for teaching, research and service.



Included in [Session 3C]: Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Author Keywords
trauma-informed pedagogy, inclusive education, inclusive design

Recent research has revealed the "Global Collaborator Mindset" (GCM) (Lindsay & Redmond, 2022) as critical for educators to develop online global collaborative teaching abilities. The GCM comprises four key attributes: Connection, Openness, Innovation and Autonomy. This presentation focuses on the Openness attribute and its importance for globally collaborative and open educational practices aligning with the core idea that "open is everyone's business." While technology provides access to networks, cultivating an open mindset serves as the fundamental enabler for educators to fully engage in open global collaboration and radically transform pedagogies beyond conventional classroom-based teaching paradigms. The Openness attribute challenges assumptions that online connectivity alone fosters open educational practices. Study findings indicate educators require developing this open perspective, coupled with specific skillsets, to become truly capable open global collaborators.

Openness as a mindset can be explicitly defined, intentionally cultivated, and applied through iterative learning experiences over time. It represents the critical disposition explaining why certain educators willingly embrace and effectively implement radically open and collaborative pedagogical approaches. As engagement with the Openness mindset deepens through practice, this attribute becomes further ingrained within educators' professional identities as open practitioners.

Central to the Openness mindset is believing in the inherent value of transparency, openly contributing ideas, and collaboratively co-creating new knowledge together with others across boundaries and within "flattened" learning environments that transcend traditional classroom walls. Openness involves prioritising the collaborative process itself as the core purpose of teaching and learning - moving beyond one-way content delivery to continual, inclusive knowledge-building with diverse global audiences.

Key aspects and applications of the Openness mindset include: leveraging digital technologies to create, share resources openly and fluidly online; redesigning teaching approaches around new student-driven, participatory pedagogies based on the belief that education fundamentally expands beyond mastering set content; adopting an "anytime, anywhere" stance where collaborative co-learning happens continually across contexts; intentionally deconstructing traditional instructor-student hierarchies to position all as co-learners collaboratively building understanding together; integrating new radically open practices into learning environments; and cultivating empathy, receptivity and deep respect for diverse cultural perspectives and ways of knowing.

The Openness mindset provides an essential conceptual model for transforming what it means to teach and learn in the digital age - nurturing the open dispositions required to embrace globally collaborative, networked educational practices. Specific open concepts crucial for "everyone's business" include:

• Mindset - The core beliefs, perspectives and dispositions that underpin openness as an educational philosophy and enable open pedagogical practices.
• Collaboration - The process of openly sharing ideas, resources and collectively co-creating new knowledge together with others across contexts.
• Flat Learning - Deconstructing traditional hierarchies and power structures so that everyone has an equal opportunity to engage as open co-learners.
• Openness - A holistic approach embracing radically transparent, collaborative pedagogies focused on learning as an inclusive, continual process of open knowledge construction. Cultivating an open participatory mindset oriented around collaboration and flat, inclusive co-learning is everyone's business - essential for transforming teaching into an open educational practice fostering global connectedness for our modern, networked world.

Included in [Session 3E]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Lindsay, J. & Redmond, P. (2022). Online collaborative learning starts with the global collaborator mindset. Educational Studies. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2022.2133957

Author Keywords
Mindset, Collaboration, Flat Learning, Openness

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to democratize education and make knowledge accessible to all. However, without conscious efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, OER materials may inadvertently perpetuate biases and marginalize certain groups. DOERS (Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success), a collaborative of 37 public U.S. and Canadian higher education systems and statewide/province-wide organizations, developed The Equity Through OER Rubric, a framework to define, unpack, and explain the multiple dimensions of equity and foreground the role of OER in closing equity gaps.

The Equity Through OER Blueprint is composed of three sections: an overview with the theoretical frameworks and research foundation used to develop the rubric, the rubric itself, and case studies. The case studies showcase how the Equity Through OER Rubric can be utilized in diverse institutional and system contexts.

This session will introduce participants to the Equity Through OER Rubric, which covers various aspects of equity, including representation, cultural relevance, accessibility, and language. The rubric offers a structured approach for assessing an institution/system’s capacity for adopting and scaling OER efforts through an equity lens and identifying areas that may need improvement to better serve diverse learners. The session will highlight a real-world example of how the rubric has been applied to an established OER initiative, showcasing the process of identifying and addressing areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.



Included in [Session 3C]: Diversity Equity and Inclusion

References
DOERS3 Equity Through OER Theoretical Framework and Blueprint: https://www.doers3.org/oer-equity-blueprint.html

DOERS3 Equity Through OER Rubric: https://www.doers3.org/equity-through-oer-rubric.html

Author Keywords
Inclusion, diversity, equity, access, Open education policies and strategies, Social justice

The goal of this presentation is to share the experience of librarians across Europe in co-designing and co-facilitating a series of workshops open to anyone to build basic open education skills.

The workshop series "Embrace the Open" is designed to catalyse a transformative movement within the field of librarianship and broader educational communities by promoting Open Education and the co-creation of Open Educational Resources (OER). Hosted by ENOEL—European Network of Open Education Librarians—this initiative is pivotal in introducing practitioners to the essentials of open educational practices and facilitating the development of a robust, interconnected community. The “Embrace the Open” series of interactive workshops aims at empowering librarians and educators through multiple strategic approaches.

Firstly, the series champions self-education and community-led learning, enabling participants to cultivate a sustainable learning environment within their institutions. By leveraging the collective expertise and experiences of the community, the workshops facilitate a rich exchange of knowledge, effectively capitalising on peer-to-peer learning modalities. A critical component of the series is its crowdsourcing strategy, which aims to bridge the existing gaps within individual and institutional practices across different countries. By collecting and disseminating best practices, collaboration tools, and processes from across the continent, the workshops intend to create a repository of accessible and practical resources.

This initiative not only addresses the immediate needs of the community but also ensures a continuous improvement and adaptation of educational practices. Moreover, the series places a significant emphasis on recognising and rewarding librarian practitioners, many of whom lack such acknowledgement within their home institutions. By spotlighting these individuals and providing them with opportunities to enhance their professional portfolios, the workshops serve a dual purpose of reward and recognition, thereby enhancing motivation and fostering a sense of achievement among practitioners.

The scalability of "Embrace the Open" is a key feature, designed to extend its reach and impact beyond the immediate ENOEL circles to a broader audience. This open and inclusive approach ensures that the benefits of the workshops are not confined to a limited group but are accessible to a wider community, thus maximising the potential for widespread adoption and adaptation of open educational practices. In our presentation, we will employ an "expectations vs. reality" narrative to offer an authentic view of the processes, challenges, and rewards associated with this initiative.

We will discuss both the expected outcomes and the unforeseen gains and difficulties encountered, providing insights into the practical aspects of initiating and scaling such a series. The narrative will also highlight how certain low-hanging fruits were utilised to kickstart the series effectively, ensuring immediate benefits while setting the stage for long-term success.



Included in [Session 4E]: Developing Skills in OE

References
European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2023, June 16). ENOEL WS#1 - Embrace the Open: An Introduction to Open Textbooks. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8046785

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2023, July 17). ENOEL WS#2 - Embrace the Open: How to organise your Open Textbook pilot. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8153757

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2023, September 12). ENOEL WS#3 - Embrace the Open: How the Open Textbook publishing kitchen works. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8338085

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2024, January 26). ENOEL WS#4 - Embrace the Open: OE Librarianship 101. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10573410

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2024, March 7). ENOEL WS#5 - Embrace the Open: Finding OER. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10803062

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2024, March 20). ENOEL WS#6 - Embrace the Open: (Re-)using and creating OER. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10845596

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (2024, April 18). ENOEL WS#7 - Embrace the Open: Sharing OER. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10991226

European Network of Open Education Librarians. (n.d.). ENOEL Workshops: "Embrace the Open" Workshop Series [Video playlist]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbvdC-WdvjAjR0aYZYQ4an1x4L3dU0gjv

Author Keywords
community-led learning, crowdsourcing strategy, librarians, scalability, open practices

Open Educational Resources (OER) has gained prominence and traction for their potential to transcend geographic, socio-cultural, economic, and educational boundaries, to promote access to high quality education and life-long learning (Mutiku, 2013). The Open Educational Resources movement has been in existence for decades and its expansion presents opportunities to transform and revolutionise education especially in low-resourced settings, such as Kenya. Research has been conducted in the global south (in particular across sub-Saharan Africa) to establish how the adoption of OER could address educational challenges and aspects such as accessibility, relevance quality and affordability (Pete, 2019; Pete, Mulder & Neto, 2017).

However, there is a dearth of evidence on the overall discourse, discussions, and presence of Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices in low-resourced contexts such Kenya. This study endeavoured to map the discourse on Open Educational Resources in Kenya, focusing on the extent to which Open Educational Resources as a theme is discussed, written about, and published in Kenya. Furthermore, the study identified who (which stakeholders) are involved in these discussions and in promoting Open Educational Resources discourse in Kenya. This research presents a systematic review of literature, publications, reports, and websites on the discourse of OER in Kenya, reviewing the trends and themes in the Open Educational Resources discourse and which stakeholders have taken prominence in voice and promoting OER to predict its penetration in Kenya and possibility for adoption in different levels of education.

Three analyses approaches were adopted, thematic analysis, frequency analysis and trend analysis. Through a thematic analysis, the study identified the themes and patterns of the OER discourse in Kenya and presents findings of the adoption and usage of OER, stakeholder perceptions of OER, policy and regulatory barriers, enablers for OER in Kenya, success stories and best practices, and the impact this has on educational quality and access in Kenya. Frequency analysis quantified the extent to which the identified themes (from thematic analysis) are discussed in literature and publications. The trend analysis provides a broader overview on how the discourse has evolved over time in Kenya and highlights its opportunities and prospects.

The study further discusses the impact of technology and digital learning in promoting the update and discourse of OER. The findings on OER in Kenya suggest a significant progress on the presence and impact of OER in the country, and highlights several themes, challenges and opportunities for its growth and impact in the education sector.



Included in [Session 11E]: Global Access and Equity

References
Mutiku, J. (2013, November 1). Open Educational Resources (OER): A leading force in enhancing access to quality education and training. OAsis. https://oasis.col.org/items/66e98dc5-18bb-44ae-ad3a-7cd83582fba4

Pete, J. (2019). Open Education Resources Differentiation: A cross-country study on Differentiation in Access, Use and Sharing of (Open) Educational Resources at Universities in Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. [Doctoral Thesis]. Open Universiteit.

Pete, J., Mulder, F. & Olivera Neto, J.D. (2017). Differentiation in access to, and the use and sharing of (open) educational resources among students and lecturers at Kenyan universities. Open Praxis, 9(2), 173–194. Available at: http://www.openpraxis.org/~openprax/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/574/327

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, Discourses, Kenya

Open Pedagogy has been used in a variety of courses to enhance student engagement with learning outcomes. However, few examples exist of open pedagogy being used in mathematics classrooms. An instructor created a multi-semester initiative called The Euclidean Project; the goal is to use open pedagogy over several semesters to ultimately create a complete, interactive, open edition of Euclid’s Elements—one of the most studied mathematics texts in history.

This session will describe how the project was started in a graduate-level geometry course. Students were assigned propositions from Book 1 of Euclid’s Elements to recreate using Geogebra, a web-based open source platform that can be used to create interactive mathematical elements. This session will describe the course and the assignment, student perception of the assignment, and implications for future research.



Included in [Session 4C]: Open Pedagogy

Author Keywords
open pedagogy, open educational practices, mathematics, open textbooks, open source technical platforms, Geogebra

Since 2012, KPU has enjoyed significant and growing interest and support for Open Education and KPU’s commitment to Open Education has flourished. The university now offers an array of grants, learning opportunities, and support for faculty to actively participate in Open Educational Resources (OER) creation and Open Pedagogy. However, our current methods for gauging faculty engagement in Open Education—such as ZTC course tracking, grant applications, workshop attendance, and consultations—rely on faculty self-initiation. These approaches may not capture the full spectrum of open education practices, as not all ZTC pathways necessitate faculty involvement in Open Education.

In 2024, KPU Open embarked on a research endeavor to gain deeper insights into the open education practices adopted by KPU faculty, their modes of engagement, and their support requirements. This presentation aims to share our findings and methodologies used to assess the level of faculty engagement with open education related practices at KPU. By understanding how faculty are practicing Open Education, we can tailor our support mechanisms to align with faculty needs, enhance our processes, and foster opportunities for faculty development and engagement.

The initial phase of our study aimed to identify the specific open education practices that KPU faculty are currently engaged in and explore the nuances of their involvement. Additionally, we sought to determine the distribution of Open Education practitioners across different faculties. This was done through a survey which employed Likert scales to gauge faculty agreement with key statements, beliefs, and approaches related to open education, and multiple-choice questions to explore how faculty engage in open education practices. The survey framework followed the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Design, Action) model, ensuring a comprehensive assessment.

The second part of our study involved evaluating the effectiveness of the support provided by KPU Open. We invited participants to join focus groups, providing an opportunity to delve deeper into their support needs. Additionally, we assessed the efficacy of KPU Open's existing support mechanisms, including workshops and other resources.

By identifying faculty engaged in open education practices, KPU Open can tailor its support services more effectively. Adequate support ensures faculty success in implementing open education initiatives. Additionally, knowing the distribution of open education practitioners across faculties enables targeted collaboration. We can work strategically with each faculty to reduce barriers and encourage further engagement with open education. Participants actively involved in open education practices were be invited to join a community of practice, fostering peer learning and collaboration.

Our research project gave us insight into open education practices at KPU that we previously had no way of knowing, and allowed us to optimize support mechanisms and empower faculty to embrace open education fully. By doing so, we contribute to a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable open educational environment.



Included in [Session 4E]: Developing Skills in OE

Author Keywords
research, open educational practices, sustainability