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

Access to information is a significant pathway to knowledge and open science. Therefore, it is hugely important to ensure such access is as widespread as possible. If we accept that in contemporary societies, knowledge dissemination primarily happens through digital media, it follows that access to knowledge must be a significant means of accessing and exercising power. Therefore, improving access to information resources equips people with relevant means towards the acquisition of knowledge and such access can happen through open science (Koutras 2023).

The Australian Government has been actively involved in the process of updating its copyright laws and regulations to align them with the evolving demands of the digital era (Cohen et al. 2015). It has undertaken several consultations and evaluations pertaining to diverse facets of the copyright system, including fair dealing, orphan works, internet infringement, and digital platforms. In addition, the Australian government has committed to examining the possible consequences of open access on the research industry in Australia and its implications for the public interest (Lacey, Coates, and Herington 2020). It has been acknowledged the pros of open access in terms of augmenting the prominence, calibre, and influence of Australian research, as well as promoting innovation, cooperation, and information dissemination (Chubb and Reed 2018).

The difficulties and complexities associated with the implementation of open access policies and practices have also been recognised. These problems include the need to balance the interests of many stakeholders, ensure compliance and sustainability, and align with international standards and norms (Aufderheide and Jaszi 2018). It should be noted that the Australian government has also shown strong support for open access initiatives, including the establishment of the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, the development of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, endorsement of the FAIR Data Principles, participation in the Research Data Alliance, and support for the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (Carroll et al. 2020).

Recent copyright reforms and public consultations reflect the government's commitment to creating a modern and flexible copyright system that promotes open access to Australian research while respecting the rights of authors, publishers, and the public (Mons 2018). These efforts include exploring fair dealing exceptions for research and education, statutory licencing schemes for orphan works, addressing digital platforms' impact on copyrighted content, and aligning Australian open access policies with international standards (Minister for Communications 2022).



Included in [Session 2D]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
open access, governance, copyright, intellectual property

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 publisher), 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 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

In an increasingly diverse and interconnected world, fostering intercultural and cross-cultural understandings within educational settings are essential for promoting social justice and equity is more crucial than ever. This presentation delves into strategies for building educator capacity in intercultural and cross-cultural understanding, emphasizing the importance of intersectional, anti-racist, and decolonizing approaches to education to effectively integrate into their teaching practices. By highlighting collaborative efforts with primary and tertiary educational sectors, this session offers examples and considerations necessary to navigate and address the complexities of inequity in their classrooms. The aim of this presentation is to develop and evaluate strategies for building educator capacity in intercultural and cross-cultural understanding, focusing on integrating social justice and anti-racist pedagogy to create inclusive and equitable learning environments. This session seeks to identify effective collaborative efforts and partnerships that enhance these educational practices.

Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Understanding in Social Justice Education

Intercultural and cross-cultural understanding are foundational to fostering inclusive educational environments. This section examines the theoretical underpinnings of intercultural competence and its significance in social justice education. We explore how educators can develop an ability to recognize, respect, and value diverse cultural perspectives, fostering an inclusive environment. Practical strategies, such as incorporating diverse literature, facilitating dialogues that draw on learner’s funds of knowledge, and promoting global citizenship education, are discussed to illustrate how educators can integrate these principles into their practice.

Intersectional, Anti-Racist, and Decolonizing Pedagogies

The principles of intersectionality, anti-racism, and decolonization are essential for addressing the multifaceted nature of inequity and injustice in education. This section focuses on how educators can apply these frameworks to create more equitable and just learning environments. By understanding the interconnectedness of race, gender, class, and other social categories, educators can develop more nuanced and effective teaching strategies. The presentation highlights key concepts of anti-racist pedagogy, including the examination of systemic biases and the promotion of critical consciousness. Additionally, we discuss decolonizing education practices, which involve challenging colonial narratives and centering Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in the curriculum.

Collaborative Efforts and Partnerships

Effective capacity building in social justice education requires collaboration among various stakeholders. This section showcases successful partnerships with educators and community members who have contributed to the development and implementation of anti-racist and decolonizing curricula. Insights from educators who have actively engaged in these collaborations provide practical examples of how these partnerships can enhance professional development initiatives and support educators in addressing racism and promoting equity.

Practical Strategies for Educators

Building on the theoretical and collaborative foundations, this section offers practical strategies for educators to implement in their courses. These strategies include designing inclusive curricula that reflect diverse cultural experiences, creating safer spaces for open dialogue and critical discussions, and employing culturally responsive practices. We also explore the role of reflective practice in helping educators to continuously examine and improve their own biases and teaching methods. By integrating these strategies, educators can create learning environments that not only acknowledge but also celebrate diversity and promote social justice.



Included in [Session 6E]: Anti-racism

Author Keywords
First Nations, Inclusion, Open educational practices, Social justice, Anti-racism

The open education (OE) movement and scholarly literature, including UNESCO's (2019) Recommendation on OER, make frequent reference to the importance of developing supportive policy environments to allow OER and other open practices to thrive. In the higher education (HE) context, much of the policy needs to be made at the institutional level, but is this happening?

This presentation will report findings from a doctoral study investigating the relationship between OE and related policies, at the institutional level in HE. The study aims to discover in what ways open educational practices (OEP) are understood, supported or enabled in institutional policy - therefore, the concepts of both OE and policy are considered in a wide sense. OE can be described as a wide umbrella term, which can potentially refer to many practices across formal, informal and non-formal education (Weller et al., 2018). ‘Institutional policy’ is considered to include documented policies, strategies, regulations or guidelines, but also, more informally, usual courses of action, presence of expertise, infrastructure, or funding to support relevant activities (Atenas et al, 2020).

This study is particularly focused on the intentions and effects of institutional policies, in higher education, on the following areas of practice in particular: · use, creation, sharing and adaptation of OER - for example, open textbooks, or other openly licensed and freely available content items such as documents, slides, videos, images, or datasets. · offering of free and/or lower-cost online courses - for example, MOOCs or microcredentials. · opening up of aspects of learning, teaching and assessment to external participants, partners and audiences - for example, open publication of student-generated content as OER. · participating in open professional development communities - for example, using blogs, podcasts or tweetchats for sharing and discussion of practices.

In order to investigate how policy, broadly defined, interacts with a similarly broadly understood range of practices, three research strands have been employed in order to investigate 1) the content of policy texts, 2) the views and experiences of staff members working in institutions, and finally, 3) the particular perspectives of a subgroup of staff who have had a role in developing relevant policy.

The first and second strands have uncovered wide variety in institutional approaches to OE, ranging from the very engaged to those which show little awareness. OER tends to be the aspect most discussed by policies and staff members, but institutions also evidence varying degrees of involvement with the other forms of practice. There is widespread evidence of more informal forms of policy support, but lower prevalence of documented OE policies. If documented policies can be taken as evidence of sustained institutional commitment to enable and support practices, then this low prevalence is perhaps cause for concern. This presentation will focus on findings from the third strand involving policymakers, and the emphasis they place on the specificity of the local, while situated within globalised and national policy contexts.



Included in [Session 6A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References

Atenas, J; Havemann, L; Neumann, J. and Stefanelli, C (2020). Open Education Policies: Guidelines for co-creation. London: Open Education Policy Lab. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4032993

Weller, M., Jordan, K., DeVries, I., & Rolfe, V. (2018). Mapping the open education landscape: citation network analysis of historical open and distance education research. Open Praxis, 10(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.5944/OPENPRAXIS.10.2.822

Author Keywords
open education policies, higher education institutions, institutional policies, open educational practices

There is a lack of research on how localized OER are created and used in low- and middle-income countries (Wolfenden and Adinolfi, 2019; Buckler, Perryman, Seal, and Musafir, 2014). This lack of understanding of how all educators use openness to meet the needs and goals of their students furthers epistemic injustice, for particular knowers are not valued as knowers (Pohlhaus, 2017). Valuing the knowledge of educators in low- and middle- income countries will expand the OER community and its understanding of OER’s capacity to support teachers in meeting the needs of students in different contexts.

This presentation will share how a grassroots nonprofit organization’s embrace of openness supported teachers and students in Lebanon. Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) is a nonprofit that collaborated with teachers to build Tabshoura, a digital learning platform that houses content aligned with the Lebanese curriculum for K-9 students. In partnership with LAL, this research design utilizes photovoice to center the teachers’ experiences with Tabshoura through the submission of a photo and caption in response to a prompt. Interviews and classroom observations are then used to expand understanding of the diverse experiences of teachers during an economic and refugee crisis in Lebanon.

This study expands the social inclusion model designed by Arinto, Hodgkinson-Williams, and Trotter (2017) to show how access to localized OER provides teachers with more opportunities to build and direct a responsive learning environment that supports and motivates students—and even parents—to take control of their own learning. Teachers in Lebanon are navigating decreasing stability in schools and navigating a student population with increasing gaps in their education. Through Tabshoura, teachers have a foundation of reliable resources connected to the classroom objectives, exciting tools for engaging students who have experienced trauma, and the flexibility to adapt resources and create an environment of learning for all their students. Teachers have incorporated their knowledge into Tabshoura to customize the learning experience:

• Personalized lesson plans based on students’ progress on Tabshoura
• Alternative schedules that support continued learning outside of school
• Student-centered pedagogical approaches that are exciting for students AND for teachers

The teachers in this project also highlighted that the individualized approach deepened their relationships with the students and their parents. Schooling is no longer limited to the building with students’ ability to use Tabshoura at home on mobile phones, so students can learn at their own pace and repeat lessons as needed. Parents are also more aware and connected to their children’s education that even their own learning was enhanced.

Openness means that educators in all regions and contexts can make the necessary choices to support their students. LAL demonstrates openness by incorporating teachers’ knowledge in the development of Tabshoura and in its continued support of teachers adapting and using Tabshoura as it best fits their students. LAL and the Lebanese teachers have demonstrated that openness is their business, too, and the OER community can benefit and expand from their example of supporting students through OER.



Included in [Session 6B]: Global Access and Equity

References
Arinto, P. B., Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Trotter, H. (2017). OER and OEP in the Global South: implications and recommendations for social inclusion. In C. Hodgkinson- Williams & P. B. Arinto (Eds.), Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South (pp. 577-592). Cape Town: African Minds Publishers. Buckler, A., Perryman, L.-A., Seal, T., & Musafir, S. (2014). The role of OER localisation in building a knowledge partnership for development: Insights from the TESSA and TESS-India teacher education projects. Open Praxis, 6(3), 221–233. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.6.3.136 Pohlhaus Jr., G. (2017). Varieties of epistemic injustice. In I. Kidd, J. Medina, G. Pohlhaus Jr. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of epistemic injustice (pp. 13-26). Routledge. Wolfenden, F. & Adinolfi, L. (2019). An exploration of agency in the localisation of open educational resources for teacher development. Learning, Media and Technology, 44(3), 327-344, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2019.1628046after-public-schools-shut-their-doors

Author Keywords
Epistemic Justice, Social Inclusion, Grassroots Nonprofit Organization, Teacher Agency, Vulnerable Students, Lebanon

This talk describes a study into the use of open monographs in teaching and learning, specifically those in the OAPEN global open access book library or listed in the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB). The presenters will also share their methodology, which can be used by others to gather data with which to analyse their own context.

The study initially considered whether OAPEN books – which, by definition, are not textbooks – were being used for the purpose of teaching and learning in Australia and New Zealand. The work originally considered the types of data available to the research team to understand this question. Studying usage of open teaching material is challenging because of the variability of data sources and because organisations deliberately do not track users. The OAPEN and DOAB metadata can be ingested into university library catalogues, and ExLibris provides download data of usage out of the catalogue. OAPEN provides dashboard statistics for supporting libraries based on IP addresses and the physical location of the primary campus. Analysis of these two sets of data indicate that the ExLibris information represented approximately a tenth of the download information, which in itself speaks to where students and staff are sourcing their links.

Analysis of the Open Syllabus Analytics service identified that open resources are currently a small proportion of texts prescribed in syllabi (less than 5% overall). Within that proportion, the open resources originating from DOAB are almost equivalent to those originating from Open Textbook Library. This clearly answered the original question: open monographs *are* being used for the purposes of teaching and learning. However it does reinforce the broader question: what are we talking about when we talk about an open educational resource in an educational setting?

A closer analysis of the download data uncovered some interesting observations. In one research intensive institution, it became clear that a significant proportion of the top 25 downloads in 2023 were related in topic and likely all part of a single course. This laid open a secondary consideration which is now being pursued – how much can the uptake of OERs in an institution be attributed to individual practice as opposed to institutional policy?

This prompted a secondary research question: is it possible to detect a discernible difference in uptake of OERs in institutions? At the time of submission, this work is only beginning, but by the conference the research team will have some results to share. This study is intended to provide a method that is reproducible in other geographical settings, to allow comparisons. The team is eager to hear feedback on the approach, and any suggestions for data that could be shared with the community to further shed light on this topic.



Included in [Session 6C]: Repositories, Pedagogy, Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
Open access monographs, Open educational practices, Open education policies

The “diamond” model of journal publishing rests on the premise that knowledge should be free for all to disseminate and free for all to read. Diamond Open Access therefore refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers. Such an approach offers opportunities for diverse and inclusive participation, giving voice to communities and groups that are otherwise marginalised and underrepresented in mainstream scholarly communications. The diamond model is one where publishing costs can be facilitated not only by academic institutions, but also by community groups and organisations, nonprofits and governments. This potentially makes it possible for communities beyond the Academy to disseminate their ideas freely to all, for open to be everyone’s business.

Internationally, interest in the value of this publishing model is increasing with a number of new diamond publishing initiatives, including the DIAMAS and CRAFT-OA projects and the Plan for Diamond Open Access. In 2020 an international diamond OA journals survey was conducted by Science Europe and cOAlition S with a final report released in 2021 and in 2023, the inaugural Global Summit on Diamond OA brought together over 700 international delegates who presented a set of pledges for furthering the diamond model. Yet so far there have been no specific initiatives that comprehensively address diamond publishing in Australasia.

A report by Open Access Australasia into open access initiatives in Australasia, based on data collected at the end of 2022, evidenced significant uptake of the diamond open publishing model in the university sector where more than half of the institutions examined had some form of open publishing, though other sectors showed little involvement. We will present a brief overview of diamond open publishing in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand based on recent updates to this report.

We will then showcase examples of how diamond open access journals can allow diverse communities and underrepresented perspectives to be heard. From Australia, we will present examples from Queensland University of Technology’s Open Press, and from Aotearoa New Zealand we will look at the diverse groups represented on the Tuwhera open access platform hosted by Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau/Auckland University of Technology.

We will conclude by describing the formation earlier this year of a vibrant diamond open access publishing community of practice, a forum where those interested in starting a diamond journal and those already involved in running one can interact to promote best practice and tackle challenges together. We discuss the priorities this CoP is focusing on in 2024 and why, and look at the applicability of the diamond publishing approach to the wider OE community.



Included in [Session 6C]: Repositories, Pedagogy, Practice and Policy in OE

References
Diamas (2023). Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication. https://diamasproject.eu/about/ CRAFT-OA (2023). CRAFT-OA (Creating a Robust Accessible Federated Technology for Open Access). https://www.craft-oa.eu/ Ancion, Z., Borrell-Damián, L., Mounier, P., Rooryck, J., Saenen, B. (2022). Action Plan for Diamond Open Access. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6282402 Catterall J, Barbour V. Open access initiatives by research active institutions in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: a snapshot of the landscape in 2022. Zenodo. June 26, 2023. doi:10.5281/zenodo.8081166

Author Keywords
Inclusion diversity equity and access, Open access publishing, Open licencing, Open practitioners

This presentation argues that decolonising open education is everyone's business. We outline approaches we have learnt from our own experiences, focusing on a project where non-Indigenous and Indigenous staff at La Trobe University collaborated to reimagine an undergraduate open textbook used in the health sciences. We demonstrate how cultural safety reviews can transform open educational resources (OER) to be universally accessible for diverse learners and act as tangible modelling of culturally responsive teaching practices for students to follow from.

Our presentation is from the perspective of non-Indigenous practitioners – from both academic and library cultures - who evolved and learnt how to engage in culturally responsive processes. We describe how these practices support mitigating the onerous burden of labour placed on Indigenous practitioners. Our perspective is distinctive in highlighting how empowering Indigenous open practitioners can cultivate active practices for everyone, in contrast to disempowering and passive practices.

These practices contribute to a paradigm shift that supports the conditions for culturally safe education. The broader significance of this shift is that it:

• Empowers Indigenous people to lead the agenda
• steps towards a holistic approach to incorporate Indigenous knowledges in normalising ways
• reduces the likelihood of tokenism
• values process as equally important to (and constitutive of) product
• embodies Indigenous methodologies into process, underpinned by centring Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing (Brodie et al, 2023)
• transforms non-Indigenous collaborators into accomplices through becoming culturally responsive (Finlay, 2020)
• carves out Third Spaces for generating culturally responsive ways of working that cultivate mutually beneficial two-way learning (Dudgeon & Fielder, 2006)
• enables advocacy to widen these ways of working to challenge to deeply rooted conventional ways of working

Our presentation will describe key challenges we encountered:

• Understanding the limitations of an “additive” approach that reduces Indigenous knowledges to inessential, extracurricular content
• Identifying how cultural safety is different to both cultural responsiveness and cultural awareness
• Distinguishing between Indigenisation and Decolonisation
• Recognising how power relations operate between non-Indigenous and Indigenous staff

We recommend emergent principles from our experience that can guide open education practitioners to widen culturally responsive practices for supporting knowledge Decolonisation projects. These include:

• Accepting the possibility of unintentionally “doing the wrong thing” as an active alternative to guilt-based paralysis
• "doing the work” independently without making reckless assumptions about one’s own knowledge of Indigenous knowledges
• thoughtfully approaching Indigenous collaborators – how, when, why, and what the “ask” is
• The meaning of yarns and how they cultivate open and respectful relationships between diverse groups

We will showcase the end product of these ways of working, highlight the culturally safe features of our open textbook, and explain how this benefits the health sciences curriculum. We conclude this presentation by outlining our next steps and posing key questions arising from our continuing learning for the community to discuss.



Included in [Session 6E]: Anti-racism

References
Brodie, T., Howard, N. J., Pearson, O., Canuto, K., Brown, A., & Advisory Group (2023). Enhancement of scoping review methodology to reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 47(6), 100096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100096 Dudgeon, P., & Fielder, J. (2006). Third spaces within tertiary places: Indigenous Australian studies. Journal of community & applied social psychology, 16(5), 396-409. Finlay, S. (2020). Where do you fit? Tokenistic, ally—or accomplice. Croakey Health Media. Retrieved December, 9, 2022.

Author Keywords
Cultural safety, Culturally responsive practices, Open educational practices, Indigenous, First Nations, Open textbooks, Health sciences

The challenges facing the world are mirrored in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Globally there is deepening inequality, wars and countries in conflict and the crisis we all face through climate change. All these wicked problems require action from all citizens of the globe to recognise and take responsibility to find solutions. HEIs must tackle inequality in education, raise awareness and knowledge of wars and climate change. There is inequality not only in access to education but also in the varying degrees of quality of education and aspect that needs to be address to achieve SDG 4. These challenges are complex and require multiple strategies. These challenges are ‘everyone’s business’ and open education is the glue that can bind them all.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has implemented open education projects and research since 2007. More recently, since 2018, the Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) initiative that has explored the role of open textbooks for social justice at UCT. This work was driven by an imperative to remedy economic, cultural and political injustices in Higher Education through addressing issues related to access, cultural recognition and representation of marginalized voices in textbooks and other teaching materials.

In an effort to form a community of South African open educators a symposium, ‘Future of open education in higher education in South Africa’ was hosted at UCT and included key contributions from UNESCO Chairs in Open Education in South Africa (June 2024). The symposium also included short inputs from UNESCO Chairs (France, Tunisia & Lebanon), members of the newly formed UNITWIN Network on Open Education (UNOE). A crucial part of day’s events was a ‘Futures workshop’ facilitated by a UNESCO chair in Futures thinking from the University of Stellenbosch.

In addition, the DOT4D initiative launched a ‘student fellowship’ program to include students in the organisation, participation and development of outputs from the event (Funded by the Hewlett foundation and GOGN). Students were encouraged to reflect individually and in focus groups on their different roles in the co-creation of this event.

Drawing on the results of the futures planning workshop and reflections of students from the symposium event this presentation will discuss aspirations for the future of open education is South Africa and it will explore ways through which student-staff partnerships can address injustice in the classroom and injustice in learning materials. It also addresses institutional realities and provides recommendations for student, staff and higher education institutions wanting to engage in or support of open education.



Included in [Session 6B]: Global Access and Equity

Author Keywords
Student partnerships, Social justice, Futures planning, Community

Open pedagogy has become a topic of burgeoning interest in higher education for its potential to enhance students’ learning, broaden their awareness of their participation in information and knowledge creation, and promote affordability of course content. Open pedagogy challenges the norms of traditional educational settings and the assumptive roles of the instructor and the students. What happens, though, when students come to the classroom with expectations about how the course will be structured?

The didactic contract is a construct used in mathematics education that describes tacit classroom norms. It includes the set of behaviors expected by the students for their instructor, as well as the instructor’s expectations of their students. In a traditional didactic contract, the implicit role of the instructor is to facilitate the knowledge transfer of the content to the student; however, open pedagogy views students as co-creators of knowledge, which can complicate students’ expectations of their roles as learners. Much of the literature has focused on the success of open pedagogy in increasing student engagement, but is there a possibility that the shift in the didactic contract, or the expected norms of a course, can disrupt student engagement?

In this presentation, I will discuss how the didactic contract is a useful construct for open pedagogy, and how we can use it to inform best practices around student agency and empower students to become active participants in their learning. We will explore how the terms of the didactic contact can be negotiated to mitigate student resistance by helping them understand the impact of open publishing for their work.



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

Author Keywords
open educational practices, open pedagogy, open practitioners, open education policies and strategies

The ability to create engaging learning experiences is key to the effective delivery of education and the development of lifelong learners. Globally, we are seeing the growth of learning design practices, which are influencing and enhancing traditional teaching and education practices. Yet adoption is hampered by the lack of a system of design practices, language and shared approaches. Is there space for more open systems and practices to help share experiences and practices? Are there ways that we can create bespoke experiences that suit specific learners, locations and situations rather than embrace the restrictions of a templated approach? This presentation will introduce an approach based on the concepts of ‘learning patterns’ that sets the groundwork for an open approach to creating a learning design system that can be adopted across sectors, languages, technologies and systems. While still very much in development, this system has already been used in South America and Europe. It has the potential to form a foundation for open practices around learning experience design.

Laurillard (2002, 2012) introduced a set of learning types in her work around a Conversational Framework. Using this formed the basis for our system, and the initial work was on converting the types of learning to adjectives and expanding some of the ideas and explanations to apply more broadly. This process also led us to move away from being framed around the teacher's conversation to a model that was focused on the learner and their actions. Through this process, the team developed a set of seven Learning Types: Assimilative, Investigative, Formative, Discursive, Productive, Evaluative and Social.

The Learning Types help define the overall learning experience, but they become less useful as you begin to develop individual lessons and activities. A missing piece was required to aid the development of a sequence of learning, so the idea of 'Learning Patterns' was introduced. Based on the concept of a Pattern Language (Alexander, 1977), Learning Patterns are a reusable scaffold to aid the design of a learning experience. They provide a superstructure or way of thinking that can be reused and recombined to suit different contexts and topics. The Patterns developed (Klapdor, 2022) act like Lego, simple shapes that fit together to create unique student experiences. Their usefulness comes from the fact that sequences can be adapted to suit the lesson's purpose and scaffolding provided to help author that aspect of the course.

This system has been used across several programs at the University of Adelaide and in various other institutions to help support their learning design efforts. This presentation aims to introduce these concepts and test the appetite for such a system on a more global scale by going open and developing shared resources and practices across a broader community.



Included in [Session 6C]: Repositories, Pedagogy, Practice and Policy in OE

References
Alexander, Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1977). A pattern language : towns, buildings, construction. Oxford University Press. Klapdor, T. (2022) Learning Patterns Library, retrieved from https://learning-patterns.com/ July 2023 Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: a conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies (2nd ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer. Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science: building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. London: Routledge.

Author Keywords
learning design, design system, design for learning

Injustice within education shuts out critical voices and creates an environment that encourages false or biased narratives. This is seen through the phenomenon of colonization of education. The growing commercialization of education is part of this puzzle, but financial barriers are only one piece of the problem. Further aspects of colonization in education include an overemphasis on rule-following and punishments, overextended faculty, BIPOC faculty leaving at high rates, and performative diversity and inclusion efforts (Lehman, 2020).

Many working in education have seen at least one of these common afflictions within the workplace. Other processes include higher education institutions giving recognition to faculty only when publishing with traditional publishers, many institutions still acting under an authoritative system that ignores the voices of students, staff, and faculty, and short-term hiring of staff or educators that prevents long-term mentoring of students. Injustice within education allows these harmful practices and others to reinforce biased historical narratives and research, limiting the success and impact of many students and faculty, especially those who are not white, male, and heterosexual individuals. In addition, colonized education causes the most harm on Indigenous and Black students, consequences can include a loss of identity, a limited sense of the past, as well as disassociation with heritage (Nwanosike & Onyije, 2011).

International Open Access Week has chosen the theme “Community over Commercialization” for the past two years, matching one of the crucial goals of decolonization in education. Open educational practices can help break down many current barriers including financial, diversity of materials and authors, as well as the prioritization of community. But while a step in the right direction, open educational practices alone are not enough to create scholarly equity. Crissinger (2015), Meagher (2021), Dutta, et al. (2021), and Berger (2021) have all highlighted the areas where open educational practices fail to move past colonization systems.

This presentation will discuss recent literature on decolonizing education as well as the literature that discusses how open educational practices are also in need of decolonization. Open educational practices are at an important moment in history where education is undergoing turbulent times. For open practices to advance and become more widespread, they must first divorce from colonization practices which prevent scholarly equity. Educators cannot work on decolonizing education and then be introduced to practices that must go through the process again. As open advocates, we must have these discussions and chart the path to decolonization.



Included in [Session 6B]: Global Access and Equity

References
Asher, N. (2009). Chapter 5: Decolonization and education: Locating pedagogy and self at the interstices in global times. Counterpoints, 369, 67-77. Berger, M. (2021). Bibliodiversity at the Centre: Decolonizing open access. Development and Change, 52(2), 383-404. Crissinger, S. (2015, October 21). A critical take on OER practices: Interrogating commercialization, colonialism, and content. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/a-critical-take-on-oer-practices-interrogating-commercialization-colonialism-and-content/ Dutta, M., Ramasubramanian, S., Barrett, M., Elers, C., Sarwatay, D., Raghunath, P., ... & Zapata, D. (2021). Decolonizing open science: Southern interventions. Journal of communication, 71(5), 803-826. Farrow, R., Coughlan, T., Goshtasbpour, F., & Pitt, B. (2023). Supported Open Learning and Decoloniality: Critical Reflections on Three Case Studies. Education Sciences, 13(11), 1115. Lehman, R. (2020, June 26). Ten ways to identify colonized education practices. Academe Blog. https://academeblog.org/2020/06/26/ten-ways-to-identify-colonized-education-practices/ Meagher, K. (2021). Introduction: the politics of open access—decolonizing research or corporate capture?. Development and Change, 52(2), 340-358. Melanie Reyes & Elizabeth A Segal (2019) Globalization or Colonization in Online Education: Opportunity or Oppression?, Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39:4-5, 374-386, DOI: 10.1080/08841233.2019.1637991 Nikki Luke & Nik Heynen (2021) Abolishing the frontier: (De)colonizing ‘public’ education, Social & Cultural Geography, 22:3, 403-424, DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2019.1593492 Nwanosike, O. F., & Onyije, L. E. (2011). Colonialism and education. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2(4), 41-47.

Author Keywords
Education injustices, colonization, open commercialization

With the establishment of a Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry in Queensland under recently enacted the Path to Treaty Act 2023, government agencies, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader community will embark on an unprecedented journey of discovery and reflection as they deepen their understanding of the impacts and effects of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their communities and culture.

Meaningful truth-telling and healing is built on this understanding of Queensland’s shared history and a transparent assessment of the impacts and effects of colonisation. Historical records will play an important role in revealing the truth about the impacts of past legislation, and government policy and practices, on the lives of First Nations peoples and their communities and culture.

As the custodian of the largest documentary heritage collection about Queensland, Queensland State Archives recognises that many of the records contained within the collection provide vital evidence of this past and is committed to uncover the untold and unrecognised history of Queensland.

Since the arrival of Europeans in Queensland, colonial systems have been forced upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The colonial records that document this contain highly sensitive personal and/or cultural information, and access to these records has often been restricted by the relevant government agencies. These restrictions can remain in place for a very long time, limiting access to these records and the information contained within them. Consequently, it is more difficult for the Inquiry, First Nations individuals and communities, and the respective government agencies to understand what these records reveal about our colonial past – it is more difficult to make this open and everyone’s business.

This presents a significant challenge for Queensland State Archives and the government agencies involved in administering access to these records. How do we facilitate access to these records while still respecting the personal information contained within them? How do we facilitate access to these records while honouring and respecting the culturally sensitive information contained within them? How do we open access while working within the constraints of existing legislation? How do we support the aspirations of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry in understanding our shared history and documenting the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples when access to these records is restricted? How do we partner with our stakeholders to help us provide access to this information?

In this presentation, Queensland State Archives will explore some of the strategies being implemented to make this information more discoverable and support a more transparent approach to accessing these records so that Queensland’s colonial past and its impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is better understood



Included in [Session 6E]: Anti-racism

Author Keywords
Data sovereignty, First Nations Perspectives, Open access publishing

( In Vietnam, Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives at universities, especially institutional OER repositories (IOER), are largely spontaneous, and few have been successfully developed. This leads to ambiguity in the development process of IOERs and the roles of campus stakeholders involved, resulting in a lack of confidence and unwillingness among higher education communities to engage with OER and IOER development.

Considering the development of IOER as an educational change at higher education organisations (HEOs) in Vietnam, this study utilises Michael Fullan's theory of Educational Change (2007) as a theoretical framework to ascertain the development of IOERs and clarify the roles of stakeholders in the process. In particular, two out of the three phases (Initiation, Implementation, and Institutionalisation) of the educational change process (Fullan, 2007) were adopted. Since only a few IOERs have been developed in Vietnam to date, it was not possible to investigate the Institutionalisation Phase of the change in this research.

Using a qualitative approach, this study involves twenty-one semi-structured interviews with OER champions, university leaders, faculty members, and library leaders and staff from various HEOs in Vietnam. Collected data were then analysed employing a directed content analysis approach (Hsieh and Shannon 2005). Participants in this study believe that the development process of IOERs aligns well with the first two phases of the educational change process, as proposed by Fullan. The initiation phase is not believed to require a high level of intricacy to progress, yet thorough preparation is significant for the project's approval. The implementation phase, on the other hand, is more complex and includes several steps, such as IOER management, OER awareness-raising, OER use, and IOER content creation.

These steps involve participation and collaboration among different campus stakeholders. In this collaborative process, the roles of libraries are significant as the implementers of IOER development projects. Although the indispensable roles of libraries are well-highlighted by the participants in this study, and VanScoy (2019) also indicates that libraries can potentially play the role of IOER policymakers, their roles in general are still underestimated due to the ingrained social prejudice regarding the peripheral role of libraries as merely book storage facilities in Vietnam. This perspective was mentioned by some participants and other researchers in Vietnam, such as Do et al. (2017).

By providing a picture of the current state of IOERs in Vietnam, this study helps clarify the IOERs development process and the campus stakeholders involved. It also highlights the significant roles of academic libraries in embracing the OER movement. Considering the findings, highly authorised stakeholders in Vietnam, such as the government or leaders of HEOs, can support and empower libraries to propose policies that effectively accelerate the OER movement in Vietnam, further facilitating open education for everyone.



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

References
Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). Teachers College Press. Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687 VanScoy, A. (2019). Bridging the chasm: Faculty support roles for academic librarians in the adoption of open educational resources. College & Research Libraries, 80(4), 426. DOI:10.5860/crl.80.4.426 Do, V. H., Kieu, T. N., Bui, T. T., & Pham, T. K. (2017). Vai trò của thư viện trong việc thực hiện các mục tiêu phát triển bền vững của Liên Hợp Quốc [The role of libraries in the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals]. Tạp chí Thư viện Việt Nam [Vietnam Library Journal], 4, 3-12. https://bit.ly/3ATdK5n

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, OER, institutional OER repositories, Vietnam, Library, Development process

James Cook University (JCU) Library serves a vast geographic area in regional and remote North and Far North Queensland, Australia. This area includes the main Townsville and Cairns campuses, six satellite study centres and external staff and students. A JCU strategic priority is transformative education, with an aim of widening participation in higher education for regional, remote, Indigenous, and first-in-family students. However, financial pressures pose a significant challenge for these students, affecting their enrolment, retention, and successful completion of university studies (Devlin & McKay, 2017; Zając & Tomaszewski, 2023). A desire to respond to the financial difficulties faced by many JCU students underpins the University’s strong commitment to open education and textbook affordability.

Academic libraries working to improve student textbook affordability is not new. North American efforts are growing in maturity, leading to an increasing number of courses publicly marked as open and affordable for students (Johnson et al., 2023). The University of South Australia Library provides recent inspiration for textbook affordability projects within the Australian higher education landscape (Gillespie, 2023). At JCU, the Library recognises that ‘open is everyone’s business’, and that subject textbook costs can be reduced. Accordingly, the Library has launched a Textbook Affordability Project (TAP), 2024-2025, targeting student-paid prescribed textbooks in first-year core subjects.

The need for TAP is apparent given 2023 Library data estimates that first-year students could have paid approximately $2,194,238 for their prescribed textbooks for core subjects. As a result, the initiative has the support of JCU’s Education Division and the Academy. The Library has invited collaboration from academic stakeholders to identify and implement free-for-student paid textbook alternatives. While the project is ongoing, interim analysis has identified several factors that have contributed to project success so far:

• JCU Library leadership has invested considerable time and demonstrated strong support for the project.
• Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) grant funding was secured for:
  
  
  • two short-term staff positions to ensure successful project coordination 
  • CU internal grants targeting academic stakeholders to maximise ongoing benefits for the JCU community.
• The whole-of-Library project status means the team can draw upon expertise from all Library staff.
• The core project team is drawn from four geographic locations bringing together complementary skills to meet differing facets of project requirements.
• A subscription to Airtable, a cloud-based relational database tool, facilitates management of the project’s complex relationships, data analysis and reporting.
• The TAP team has been able to leverage results from the highly successful JCU Open eBooks program.

At the end of the project, the aim is for this work to be business as usual for the Library and academic stakeholders, with an ongoing commitment to provide JCU students with as many zero textbook cost (ZTC) study options as possible.



Included in [Session 6B]: Global Access and Equity

References
Devlin, M., & McKay, J. (2017). Facilitating success for students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds at regional universities. Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success. https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/project/facilitating-success-students-low-socioeconomic-status-backgrounds-regional-universities-2/ Gillespie, K. (2023). Minimising ‘cost to student’ course materials project final report. University of South Australia Library. https://www.library.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/files/memoreportassqctextbookminimisationfeb2023.pdf Johnson, G., Parks, J., Many, A., and Diaz, L. (2023). Findings of the OER course marking landscape analysis survey. Midwestern Higher Education Compact. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED645370.pdf Zając, T. & Tomaszewski, W. (2023). Relative influence of different markers of socioeconomic status on university participation. In Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Ed.), Australia’s welfare 2023: Data insights. (pp. 193-214). https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2023-data-insights/contents/uni-participation

Author Keywords
equity, social justice, textbook affordability, regional and remote students, project management

One missing piece to the conversation around the impact of OER on student success metrics is a discussion about implementation quality. Are instructors just substituting an OER textbook for an expensive, commercial text, or are they going through a faculty fellowship, supported by their institution that includes conversations around pedagogy? OER implementation spans a continuum with one-to-one replacement of textbooks with OER textbooks at one end and thoughtful integration of OER in ways that enhance pedagogy at the other end. We believe these differences in OER implementation quality are a primary reason for the “muddy waters” surrounding OER and student success.

Furthermore, the potential differences in the support, training, and incentives instructors receive when implementing OER in their classrooms may impact the quality of that implementation. If instructors are not provided with adequate resources and guidance on best practices for adapting, remixing, and aligning OER with learning objectives, they may struggle to implement OER into their courses in a meaningful way. Lack of incentives, such as compensation or recognition for the time and effort required to implement OER, can also be a barrier to quality implementation. Understanding effective ways in which institutions can provide support for instructors implementing OER is crucial to advancing OER initiatives.

AAC&U is embarking on a large-scale study on OER and student success to advance the conversation on the effectiveness and impact of OER beyond affordability. Our multi-institutional study brings together 17 U.S. colleges and universities spanning all six primary higher education institution categories officially recognized in the United States, and features key minority-serving designations including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. From these institutions, we are collecting historical data on student success in courses that implemented OER within the past 10 years. As part of this study, we will be conducting focus groups with faculty from these institutions about their OER implementation and what characteristics indicate higher quality OER implementation. These results will allow us to understand and codify quality, leading to the creation of a framework outlining quality OER implementations.

In this session, we will present the findings from our focus group research and share the implementation quality framework we are developing. We will discuss the process of developing the framework; characteristics that indicate quality and the impact that support, training, and incentives (or lack thereof) have on OER implementation quality; and how we intend to share this framework to enhance OER implementation quality on a broader scale. Finally, we will reveal the next stage of this research—our incorporation of this framework into an instructor survey that will be disseminated to additional faculty at each of our partner campuses. The purpose of the instructor survey is two-fold: first, to determine if higher quality is positively associated with student success and second, to examine the extent to which OER implementation differs within and across institutions. These additional pieces of the study will further extend the conversation around the impact of OER on student success.



Included in [Session 6A]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
OER Implementation Quality, Focus Groups, Instructor perceptions

Maskwacis Cultural Colege’s vision statement is  “Center for excellence in Academics and Cree culture.” A case study of the use of open pedagogy in teaching and learning at the local First Nations College will be presented.

Two eyed seeing approach was used in SOCI 1500 online class by braiding western and Indigenous ways of teaching by a racialized settler instructor working with an on reserve First Nations college. 400 minutes of Open Educational Resources (OER) videos were created by collaborating with Subject Matter Experts. Production of the OER syllabics book was based on Three kittens' open book from Norway's Children's Digital library.

The success and challenges of using open education practices will be illustrated. Openness is embedded in Nehiyaw plains Cree ways of knowing by using concepts of Newaykomakanak, Wahkotowin, Kiyam and Pastahowin.



Included in [Session 6E]: Anti-racism

Author Keywords
First Nations perspectives, Local Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing, Open educational practices

Open educational resources (OER) can be valuable tools for enhancing regular courses. There are some ways to integrate OER into the curriculum, for example: (1) Full course replacement: Consider using a complete OER textbook or curriculum if it aligns with your course learning objectives. This can significantly reduce student costs. (2) Supplementary materials: OERs can be excellent resources to supplement existing course materials. Look for articles, simulations, interactive exercises, or multimedia resources that enrich specific topics. (3) Curated collections: Create your own curated collections of OERs tailored to specific learning objectives or units within your course. (4) Student exploration activities: Provide students with OERs as a starting point for research projects or independent learning activities.

Thus, here in Taipei Medical University, we've tried to build undergraduate courses by adopting our MOOCs as OERs. The core of instruction design of these courses are to curate progressive learning content. We divide the course content into different modules, each with clear learning objectives. You can provide an overview at the beginning of each module and a summary at the end of each module. Then, we design diverse learning activities. We combine a variety of learning activities to help learners better understand and master the course content. For example, we use lecture videos, readings, discussions and quizzes of the MOOCs we choose. We require students to submit a progress report of their learning. We use a variety of assessment methods to evaluate the learning outcomes of learners. The learner need to finish the peer review of these progress reports.

The courses were open for enrollment across the aliened universities. Because of the nature of the MOOCs, these courses are in asychronized format. There were more than 200 students enrolled in each course. Most students are looking forward to taking more courses operate in the same way.



Included in [Session 7A]: Pedagogy. Advocacy - (workshops and talk)

Author Keywords
micro-credential, MOOCs, Open Education Resources, Instruction Design

In southwest Arkansas lies UA Cossatot, a small community college whose inspiring story resonates with themes of determination, collaboration, innovation, and the transformative power of open educational resources (OER). Cossatot Community College has four campuses with an average enrollment of about 1,300 and is a part of the University of Arkansas System. We lead the state in OER usage, but we didn’t get there overnight. We faced some challenges along the way to becoming the state leader in OER adoption, but commitment to our students and collective determination fueled our journey.

In 2015, UA Cossatot addressed the financial hardships textbook expenses created for its diverse student population. As the sole Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in a state with a 17% poverty rate, the nation’s seventh highest poverty rate, the imperative to remove financial barriers to higher education assumed paramount importance. In our initial research, it became clear that establishing an OER initiative was not only a viable economic alternative, but also the right thing to do for students.

With a mission statement emphasizing our commitment to improving the lives of those in our region by providing quality education and outstanding services while embracing diversity, it was obvious that the belief in equal educational opportunities for all demanded that we build an internal textbook rental and OER program, so we did.

Despite initial hesitations among faculty members apprehensive about departing from traditional textbooks and widespread sentiment that what we were attempting to do was impossible, UA Cossatot persisted, understanding that OER embodies a collective responsibility to nurture student achievement. The college diligently sought inclusive pathways for all stakeholders, ensuring that proponents of conventional textbooks could seamlessly transition to affordable alternatives. The collaborative effort between college administration, faculty, and staff underscores that OER is not merely about finances but a shared moral responsibility to ensure student welfare and academic success.

Open education is crucial to the future of education and addresses the challenges and needs of contemporary and future learning environments. For community colleges transitioning to OER, it doesn’t matter how big or small the college is, higher education leaders can step up to eliminate some of the financial barriers that students face. Recognizing that we can value traditional culture while embracing modern ways of thinking teaches us to respect both perspectives and know that we’re not bound by either. At UA Cossatot, we’ve learned a lot about open resources and Creative Commons and we’re eager to share that experience. UA Cossatot’s journey from OER novices to leading Arkansas with 76 percent of our courses using open resources exemplifies our commitment to the changing landscape that is education and illustrates a balanced approach to tradition and innovation within the future of learning in a constantly evolving educational landscape.



Included in [Session 7E]: Practice and Policy in OE (workshops)

Author Keywords
Inclusion diversity equity and access, Open educational practices, Open education policies and strategies, Open textbooks

How do we make Open everyone’s business even before gaining formal institutional support or resourcing, such as a dedicated open education team or role? How do we conduct open education activities on a shoestring?

We ask our friends, we try things, we take notes, and we learn.

And, crucially, we share.

Sharing back into the Open ecosystem has enabled the University of South Australia (UniSA) to continue learning from our colleagues to build an Open culture of our own, where open education is embedded in our everyday workflows, becoming a natural part of everyone’s business.

In this session, Ash and Sarah discuss: the evolution of Open at UniSA and our involvement in the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) OER Collective; our Textbook Minimisation project and subsequent Open Education Down UndOER case study; and the sustainable advocacy strategies we use that have led to OER adoption and creation, supporting inclusive and equitable access to education.

Throughout the discussion, we present specific examples of tools and techniques we’ve learned and successfully implemented from the Open ecosystem which have helped us embed open education into our business as usual everyday practices. Some of these include: -Post-oppositional approach to OER advocacy: an approach we’ve known by many names from various Open practitioners; however, this phrase we learned from the extraordinary Jasmine Roberts-Crews who crystalised the idea in an unforgettable keynote speech about the alignment of open education and antiracist pedagogy. -Check for Textbook Availability form: a workflow game-changer adapted from Cheryl Casey’s University of Arizona Library Check for eBook Availability form which endeavours to capture and replace potentially problematic textbooks before they’ve been prescribed to a course. -Airtable open education project tracker: a free project management and reporting tool all rolled into one, very generously shared and demonstrated by Gabrielle Hernandez from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. -Open Pipeline: a concept visualised as kanban and shared by Ross McKerlich from BCcampus as a method for tracking and advancing how far along individuals and entities are on the Open spectrum, from non-Open to fully Open, recognising OER adoption numbers do not give the full story. -Open Education Maturity Model: a tool from Pressbooks to measure the current state of open education in an institution as well as understand the key steps to grow to the next level.

We share these examples to assist other Open practitioners operating on a shoestring to quickly identify some tools worth trying, rather than wading unguided through the ocean of available resources.

After discussing our own experiences of sharing and reusing Open practitioner tools and strategies for sustainable practice, we invite participants to engage with us through a collaborative online document, sharing their own tips and resources they have either created or reused which may help other practitioners with low resourcing to undertake everyday open education activities. This living document will be openly licensed, empowering participants to immediately make use of the content and continue to add and reuse the ideas, celebrating and sustaining the Open ecosystem.



Included in [Session 7B]: OE Practice in the GLAM sector

Author Keywords
Open educational resources (OER), Open education, Advocacy, Sustainable practices

Most Australian universities are in the nascent stages of developing open educational practices (OEP). A wave of progress has been made in recent years due to a national push to develop the foundations for open educational resource (OER) publishing. It has been useful for Australian open advocates to draw initial lessons from the U.S. and Canada who have made significant advances. However, as OEP takes root in Australia, it is becoming increasingly urgent to consolidate the insights gained from our region to support locally specific strategies and solutions.

Accordingly, our presentation provides a longer term retrospective from the rearview mirror. We share insights from La Trobe University’s mature open education model that can be applied to further advance the whole Australasian OEP community, recognising that open is everyone’s business. We focus on ‘big picture’ lessons from our early adopter investment into OER initiatives a decade ago (Salisbury, Julien & Loch, 2023). We discuss strategies for resolving “Gordian Knot” challenges (seemingly unsolvable problems) faced by all institutions establishing the foundations for OEP in Australia.

We propose that these ‘wicked problems’ and our evolving solutions for them are best understood through five interrelated themes:

1) Open education poses a uniquely amorphous challenge precisely because of its essential feature: openness. The fuzzy nature of open is its greatest strength, but it creates problems like staff burnout, lack of sustainable funding, conceptual confusion, and nebulous project boundaries. We illustrate how clear vision can minimise these problems, and how it is best gained *through* OEP rather than ahead of it.

2) The Australasian open education movement faces a paradox. We need to quickly develop more localised OER to build a strong and relevant resource base to drive adoption. However, if we do this hastily, we risk normalising a mechanistic ‘factory line’ approach to generating OER as objects abstracted from practice. This would deprive us of the rich OEP that are key to unlocking the power of OER in the first place. We argue that resolving this paradox requires us to strongly prioritise ‘process as pedagogy’ and reflexive open practices, drawing from both our experiences and the 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning (Kalantzis & Cope, 2006).

3) These reflexive open practices are embodied by educators who see themselves as active open practitioners. We argue that making this sustainable means enabling practitioners via purposeful institutional support, such as integrated academic capability development programs that scaffold reflexive practices in a foundational way.

4) Open practitioners, when they engage in reflexive open education, generate open artefacts that support academic reward and recognition.

5) The Australian higher education environment disincentivises open educational practices through many barriers. However, the combination of #3 (developing open reflexive practitioners in a scaffolded way) and #4 (practice-based generation of open artefacts) creates a powerful force that realigns OEP with academic incentive systems.

We conclude by integrating these five themes into actionable recommendations for institutions and teams relevant to all countries and situations where ‘wicked’ barriers exist to advancing OEP.



Included in [Session 7C]: Open Publishing - the Australian Experience

References
Kalantzis, M., Cope, Bill, & Cambridge books online. (120AD). Literacies. Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press. Salisbury, F., Julien, B., Loch, B., Chang, S., & Lexis, L. (2023). From Knowledge Curator to Knowledge Creator: Academic Libraries and Open Access Textbook Publishing. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 11(1). 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 access publishing, Open educational practices, Open education policies and strategies, Open textbooks, Open practitioners, Culturally responsive OEP, Scholarship of learning and teaching, Academic reward and recognition, Third Spaces and Third Space professionals, OEP sustainability

This presentation will showcase how a multi-year international baking competition between two university libraries special collections units sparked efforts to increase engagement and open knowledge production around archival recipe books and manuscripts. This unique annual event prioritizes welcoming both University-connected individuals and communities as well as the general public to explore and engage with digitized and openly licensed collections held by two large Universities. As a result of the widespread participation, both Universities are actively seeking to expand their recipe collections and are committed to identifying ways the public and their students can continue to make significant contributions to knowledge sharing around food, social networks, and gender participation in the kitchen.

The Great Rare Books Bake Off invites students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the public to engage with recipe books at both Monash University and Penn State University by baking selected recipes from them and posting the results to social media. Since 2020, this annual competition has engaged hundreds of participants and led to the expansion of recipe collections at each university, propelled digitization projects around these unique items, enabled open knowledge production through transcription, and inspired both in-person and virtual events. By engaging library colleagues, university students, and the public as partners in the embodied creation, digitization, and transcription of these unique primary sources, the project opened up barriers to archival access and scholarly participation.

Rather than merely consuming knowledge, participants became creators, scholars, and public disseminators putting the tenets of open education into practice. Their authentic research experiences culminated in social media engagement around the historical recipes, the planning of public events that brought the recipe books’ culinary heritages into the present, and a published digital transcription made openly available with students credited as creators.

The presentation will detail the pedagogical strategies that positioned participants, particularly students, as developing experts throughout the process. Additionally, it will share the digital outputs and impacts that demonstrate how increasing access to primary sources can facilitate meaningful community connections. In surfacing the experiences, ingredients, and social networks captured in handwritten recipe books, community cookbooks, and commercially published cultural recipe collections, this project empowered participants as open knowledge producers exploring and enriching our shared cultural record. This presentation will encourage attendees to consider how initiatives like this can advance open pedagogy while fostering research skills. It will also highlight how partnerships with special collections and university libraries across institutions can create powerful, public-facing educational opportunities both inside and outside the traditional classroom.



Included in [Session 7B]: OE Practice in the GLAM sector

Author Keywords
Open pedagogy, Open educational resources, Recipe books

As academic librarians we recognise that open is everyone’s business. Academic librarians are essentially open education practitioners, well positioned to represent staff and students in their academic journeys and mindful of the cruciality of equable access to knowledge.

As members of educational organisations and academia we are not the only consumers of educational research and outcomes. Open education ensures that those outside our institutions, including those responsible for policy and information provision, have access to timely research. It also supports collaborative research without restrictions on a global scale.

In 2024 Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library launched its new Open Press. QUT Open Press offers support and guidance to QUT staff and students to publish open textbooks, open journals and other open educational resources. This initiative brings together the diverse knowledge and skills QUT librarians and research staff offer to improve access to educational resources. We posit open scholarship and open access in terms of maximising the sharing of knowledge across the entire research lifecycle, encompassing open access to research publications, open data, open educational resources, sharing of code, protocols, and other relevant research outputs.

But how did we get here? QUT has operated comprehensively in the open access space for several decades now. An institutional open access policy, believed to be the earliest university-wide open access policy in the world, was endorsed in 2003. QUT’s institutional open repository (QUT ePrints) was launched in the same year mandating the provision of author accepted manuscript versions for all peer reviewed articles published by staff. In 2004 QUT committed to the Creative Commons Project and in 2010 utilised open-source publishing software to host a number of open access academic journals. In 2016 the first institutional OER policy was approved. QUT Library continues to support a range of national and international open access advocacy activities with active membership in national organisations like Open Access Australasia and Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR). QUT also supports a range of other open access initiatives including a research data and software repository and a suite of OER. Most recently, in 2023, QUT’s open access policy was updated to incorporate a ‘Rights Retention’ element based on the Plan-S initiative.

QUT Open Press represents more than a shop front for Library services in relation to open scholarship and open education. It is representative and inclusive of a long-term and broader body of activity, practice and advocacy developed with whole-of-institution support. QUT Open Press is open for business.



Included in [Session 7C]: Open Publishing - the Australian Experience

References
Open Access for QUT Research Outputs (Including Theses) Policy / Document / MOPP. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2024, from https://mopp.qut.edu.au/document/view.php?id=177

Open Educational Resources Policy / Document / MOPP. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2024, from https://mopp.qut.edu.au/document/view.php?id=148

Author Keywords
open access publishing, open repositories, open textbooks, open scholarship, open access

Open Education and Open Educational Resources (OERs) have garnered a burgeoning interest amongst higher education and library professionals in tertiary institutions across Southeast Asia. In an effort to meet this interest, an idea was sparked and conversations initiated to inaugurate an open education group specifically for the ASEAN higher education community. Herein began the OER-SIG: ‘Open Educational Regional – Special Interest Group’.

The OER-SIG proposal was launched at the 17th AUNILO Meeting, to gain association support of AUNILO (formerly ASEAN University Network Inter-Library Online) and to generate a broader reach. Whilst communities of practice such as interest groups are plentiful in the areas of open education, this group specifically aims to build awareness and discussion on open education issues and trends contextually relevant to the ASEAN region. Such issues include OER in Asian languages; awareness of local resource-sharing platforms; and diverse OER formats inclusive of rural Southeast Asian contexts, such as print formats.

Presently Co-Chaired by Singapore Management University (Singapore) and Mahidol University (Thailand), the interest group meets quarterly online for activities encompassing small-group sharing or discussion sessions; casual presentations from members or guests; as well as occasional planned larger-scale webinars with an invited speaker which are open to a broader audience, as after all 'Open is Everyone’s Business'! The interest group has successfully welcomed diverse members from across countries including Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, amongst others.

One year on and after the conclusion of the SIG’s very first full-year, this presentation will cover the rationale, purpose and objectives for setting up the interest group, along with the full journey from the initial inception of the idea to the earliest conversations for developing cross-border partnerships to garner support for establishing the SIG. Activities and outcomes from the first year will also be briefly shared.

Building a regional interest from the ground up is not without its challenges and learnings, including maintaining in-between meeting communication and sustaining group momentum with limited resources. The SIG is still very much in its early stages, with more potential to learn and grow over time with maturity.

Through the OER Special Interest Group for ASEAN, it is hoped that the group as a community of practice will continue to encourage the sharing of best practices and experiences with OERs amongst higher education and library professionals, as well as ignite discussion on open education issues and trends directly relevant to Southeast Asia to promote impact in the region and beyond.



Included in [Session 7B]: OE Practice in the GLAM sector

Author Keywords
Open educational practices, Open practitioners, Communities of Practice

The CAUL Open Educational Resources (OER) Collective, an initiative led by the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), has been leveraging the power of networks within university libraries in Australia and Aotearoa / New Zealand to advance open publishing and open educational practices at a regional level. The goals of the CAUL OER Collective are three-fold, with the aim of building capacity and capability across the network:

1. Build infrastructure, capacity and achieve tangible outcomes to move the OER agenda forward at a national level.
2. Facilitate collaborative authoring and publishing of open textbooks in targeted priority disciplines, with a preference for the inclusion of local and/or Indigenous content.
3. Allow Member institutions to publish their own textbooks in disciplines of their choosing.

A central driver behind this capacity and capability building is the annual grants program which has awarded close to $100,000 to support the development of open textbooks in member institutions. The textbooks cover a diverse range of disciplines, including psychology, law, Indigenous studies, and health – telemedicine, pharmacy, nursing and midwifery.

As the peak leadership organisation for university libraries in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, CAUL recognises that institutional members are at various stages of maturity in their capacity to support OER. CAUL is uniquely positioned to bolster the variety of service models in practice, to adapt the communities of practice, the development of guides and events and the focus of the grants program to provide a strong basis for broader advocacy efforts.

This presentation will reveal the results of three years’ worth of grants programming, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data and interviews with academic authors and supporting library staff. We will share our own successes and challenges and practical strategies to sustainably continue the work of the CAUL OER Collective as a service to our members. We will provide a collective model others may benefit from, as we have learned from the maturing open communities around the globe, in and outside of the tertiary education sector. Open is everyone’s business. 



Included in [Session 7C]: Open Publishing - the Australian Experience

Author Keywords
Open access publishing, Open educational practices, Open textbooks

In Spring 2018, KPU embarked on a groundbreaking mission: to eliminate textbook costs for students. With support from BCcampus, KPU pioneered Canada's first ZTC Initiative, introducing 75 ZTC sections and a flexible 1-year Certificate in Arts credential. Since then, the initiative has flourished, transforming the educational landscape. Now, just six years later, KPU offers an impressive average of 22% course section offerings with ZTC, along with eight known ZTC credentials, including two four-year Baccalaureate degrees. This commitment to accessible education remains unwavering. Today, KPU boasts a diverse ZTC landscape, spanning multiple disciplines and degree levels. The commitment to accessible education remains at the forefront. But the journey hasn't been without challenges, and in this presentation, we will share a recent project KPU underwent in order to overcome one of our challenges and to move our ZTC Initiative forward in a strategic way.

While individual course tracking has improved through integration into the registration system, a critical challenge persists: identifying potential ZTC pathways at the credential level. Historically, KPU relied on manual cross-referencing between degree frameworks and lists of ZTC course data. However, this process was time-consuming and lacked comprehensive insights.

In 2024, KPU embarked on a transformative project: digitizing the ZTC credential mapping process. The goal was to create a systematic approach that would facilitate strategic planning and provide comprehensive analysis.

Phase 1 of this project involved importing 177 degree frameworks from the KPU Academic Calendar website into MS Excel. These frameworks were organized into separate files for each Faculty. Next, each framework was cross-referenced against a list of historic ZTC courses extracted from the registration system. The initial data analysis yielded valuable insights, revealing the percentage of ZTC courses within each degree. This information allowed KPU to pinpoint degrees that were close to offering ZTC pathways.

Building on Phase 1, KPU dug deeper into the data in Phase 2. Which specific courses could strategically enhance ZTC pathways? Which ones were missing? The team identified key courses that, if converted to ZTC, would significantly expand the number of ZTC degree options available to students. To communicate these findings effectively, KPU developed data visualizations and a user-friendly dashboard using Power BI.

Armed with a clearer picture of ZTC opportunities, KPU Open is now poised for strategic growth. The "OER Advancement Grant" was created specifically to fund the conversion of courses to ZTC and offer more ZTC credentials. By focusing on degrees or programs that are on the cusp of ZTC readiness, KPU aims to increase student access to affordable education.



Included in [Session 7E]: Practice and Policy in OE (workshops)

Author Keywords
open education research, zero textbook cost, open education policies and strategies

As a strategy to introduce open educational practices at an institution, a grant program can provide a vehicle for organizational awareness raising and practice development. At Deakin University, an Open Educational Resources (OER) grant program was introduced in 2021 to foster the development of Open practice. Over 3 rounds of grants, the program has iterated from a fixed level of grants to a tiered structure and as an internally recognized program, it contributes to establishing and fostering open practice at the university.

This presentation aims to summarize 3 years of practice learnings from an OER grant program from the initial establishment through to the current program progressing towards institutional maturity. Over this time, the infrastructure to publish resources has been developed, processes to support open educational practices have been established and channels for communication created. The presentation will discuss the challenges of commencing a program at an institution where open educational practice was not organizationally prevalent. From a point of institutional immaturity in open education, library processes, expertise, and infrastructure has developed alongside the open practice of the grant recipients as needs occurred. As the grant projects develop a range of OER from textbooks to videos and other learning object types and formats, a range of solutions and practices needed to be established adding complexity to the program challenges.

Additional to the challenges, this presentation will also cover the wins and positive outcomes of implementing a grant program to strategically increase open practice. Supporting the projects requires collaboration across areas of the university including the library, learning designers and academics from across the faculties. These interactions between staff from different divisions make open the business of everyone right across the institutional environment. From establishing touchpoint of contact to managing relationships with contacts, the library coordinates the program to achieve strategic goals. Over time, not only has the grant program developed but also the aims of the program are moving towards a maturity of practice: from learning about OER towards Open Educational Practice, renewable assessment and creative, interactive OER development.



Included in [Session 7C]: Open Publishing - the Australian Experience

Author Keywords
OER programs, Open educational practice, OER publishing, Open education strategies

What happens when a long-standing commitment to open sharing of knowledge awakens to and begins to infuse responses to the stark reality of the climate emergency? What new learning practices are catalyzed, and how can this lead to a more just and livable world?

In this session, we’ll explore some ways that more timely, equitable and effective climate learning is being enabled by the methods and materials of open education; and also how open education practices can evolve to maximize the positive impacts of climate action efforts.

Substantial progress has been made on climate action and climate justice in recent years. But our “business as usual” trajectory of incremental change within existing systems still has us on track for warming of over 3C by 2100. This trajectory is less dire than the prospects of 4C+ that we faced a decade ago; but without much deeper transformations, we’re still on a path to trigger planetary tipping points, ecosystem collapses and mass disruptions of human society.

More must be done. And as a means of transformation, open practices have a key role to play.

These questions are playing out now in developing the Climate Project at MIT, an ambitious program announced in early 2024 to do bigger things faster and work more effectively with partners around the scientific and societal challenges of climate change.

In this session, we’ll highlight some of the ways that open knowledge practices are infusing climate work at MIT and in its collaborations, and ask what might be possible if a commitment to open knowledge practices spreads widely across climate action spaces.

At OE Global 2023, a workshop session began to consider an open climate knowledge community of practice. We discussed needs and opportunities, and identified some resources and programs that can serve as inspirations and a basis for future work. See workshop notes at https://bit.ly/oeglobal-climate-community.

One year later, where are we? How are open methods and materials making a difference for general public engagement and empowering k-12, post-secondary, workforce and professional learning about climate change and climate justice? Current and future generations are counting on us to make this everyone’s business.



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Notes from OE Global’23 workshop on open climate knowledge: Accelerating Climate Action and Climate Justice Through Open Education. https://bit.ly/oeglobal-climate-community. OE Week 2024 event listing: Accelerating Climate Action and Climate Justice Through Open Education. https://oeweek.oeglobal.org/activity/accelerating-climate-justice-through-open-education/ International Open Access Week 2022 webinar video: Learn Climate with Open MIT Resources. https://youtu.be/WXshIwISJ5Y?si=rC-LUtGFGcypIymi

Author Keywords
Lifelong and informal learning, Open educational practices, Open education policies and strategies, Social justice, Sustainability

This session presents a reflective narrative of my experience in a post-graduate diploma program in education conducted in online mode, utilizing Microsoft Teams as the primary platform. As a teacher and administrator, we were assigned to facilitate a group of 40 students in nine different subject classes from 6.00 PM to 9:30 PM for a semester of 6 days a week. The experience of this one session has also emphasized the potential of effective teaching in Nepal's open education among digital capabilities and problems and challenges to reduce the digital divide.

In a developing country like Nepal, limited access to digital infrastructure has created significant challenges to implementing open education effectively. But using free available (only for education institutions) Microsoft Teams, we navigated these challenges to create an engaging and inclusive learning environment for our students. When using various methods of teaching and learning, such as synchronous lectures, and asynchronous discussions, it was observed that students should be informed about the condition of the equipment and use the appropriate software tools according to learner devices.

Our approach was committed to enhancing digital literacy among students and enhancing subject knowledge. We incorporate curriculum content and digital skills development, empowering students to search for, archive, authenticate online resources, and critically evaluate digital content. Given the nature of the subject, organizational complexities emerged and resources were generally attempted, but in the absence of digital skills and teachers and learners, the need for careful planning and coordination emerged.

Through the use of instant messaging apps such as What’s app, Facebook Messenger, and Viber as well as the use of MS Teams communication channels to coordinate the management of online classes, we were in regular contact with the students, providing timely feedback and support to facilitate their learning journey. In the absence of digital skills, we used data analysis tools instead of traditional methods to track student progress, identify areas for improvement, and provide instruction accordingly.

Despite the challenges posed by digital skills, better internet, tools, and the digital divide, the flexibility of both teachers and students emphasized digital skills development and curriculum adaptability. By embracing digital technologies and developing digital competence, we can overcome barriers to educational access and equity, empowering learners to thrive in the digital age. Therefore, we must commit to advocating for policies and initiatives that prioritize digital inclusion and equal access to education through open and distance learning. By fostering collaboration between academic institutions, the private sector, government agencies, and academia, we can bridge the digital divide and unlock the full potential of open education to transform lives and communities in Nepal and beyond.



Included in [Session 10B]: Digital Capability

Author Keywords
OER, Digital divide, Digital skills, Open education, PGDE, Teacher Education

The presentation will discuss an initiative spearheaded by Open Oregon Educational Resources, which received funding to develop openly licensed, equity-focused materials for Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) and Sociology courses. The grant-funded project focused on developing materials for high-enrollment courses in disciplines that lead to in-demand occupations where high-quality openly licensed course materials with an equity lens were not currently available. The program began in 2022 and final publication of materials is planned for 2024.

One of the courses identified in this project was Human Services practicum. This presentation will focus on this course from development of the open educational resources, through course curriculum and into instruction. Central to this endeavor was the infusion of an equity lens into every facet of the curriculum. Topics ranging from agency culture to client diversity were explored through this perspective, shedding light on how issues of equity and inclusion impact students interning in human services. The materials not only addressed the diversity of clients but also scrutinized how agencies either support or hinder equity initiatives. Examples of this discussion include analyzing dress codes, provision of culturally-relevant services, and how the agency promotes equity.

Accompanying course packets were designed as open ancillaries, emphasizing equity in learning activities and assignments. Students were challenged to apply an equity lens in their coursework, with assignments structured for clarity and comprehension. Assessments were created using the TILT transparency framework in order to ensure understanding by diverse learners. Furthermore, the curriculum fostered reflective practice and self-care, utilizing journal prompts to encourage contemplation on equity issues and integrating self-care activities to promote habits essential for future human services professionals.

The piloting phase of the course ensured the maintenance of an equity lens in all activities and discussions throughout the term, with ongoing evaluation and feedback shaping the refinement of materials. Ultimately, this initiative underscores a commitment to inclusive education, equipping students with the skills and empathy necessary to navigate diverse professional landscapes and address societal challenges in their future careers.



Included in [Session 10E]: Social Justice

Author Keywords
Equity, Curriculum development, Openly-licensed materials, Human Services, Inclusion, Diversity, Reflective practice, Self-care, Inclusive education

Open Educational Resources (OER) have been discussed in Sweden as early as 2008 (Westman & Paulsson). Unfortunately, their adoption is still very limited due to a lack of understanding about their nature, how they can be used, and the opportunities they present (National Library of Sweden, 2022). In light of the UNESCO recommendation on OERs, the National Library of Sweden was tasked with developing national guidelines for open science by the Swedish Government. These were recently presented and include the use of OER (National Library of Sweden, 2024).

The national library's work on national guidelines was companied by The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) working group on OERs. SUHFs aim is to promote the sector interests to external actors and at strengthening internal cooperation. The task of the working group is to develop proposals for recommendations on what national OER coordination could look like and how educational institutions could create a long-term structure for the work. The OER working group reports first and foremost to the working group on open science, which put forward a roadmap for open science as early as 2021.

In line with the national recommendations for open science, SUHF updated their roadmap in the beginning of the year (SUHF, 2024) and includes now a section about OERs. The roadmap defines the responsibility of Swedish Higher Education institution to "actively work towards creating a sharing culture regarding educational resources by encouraging and promoting the creation, sharing, and use of open educational resources". In this presentation, a member of the OER working group presents the roadmap and its' accompanying guideline for the OER section, which tries to ensure that OERs are finally everybody's business in the Swedish Higher Education system.



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Moore, M. G. (2022). From correspondence education to online distance education. In Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (pp. 1-16). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

National Library of Sweden (2022). Öppna lärresurser – en kartläggning och analys: Redovisning av uppdraget om öppna lärresurser, U2021/04163. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kb:publ-691

National Library of Sweden (2024). Natio­nal guide­li­nes for promoting open science in Sweden. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kb:publ-722.

SUHF (2024). Färdplan för öppen vetenskap (reviderad). Available at: https://suhf.se/app/uploads/2024/02/REK-2021-1-Fardplan-for-oppen-vetenskap-SUHF-Antagen-av-SUHFs-presidium-REVIDERAD-240201-1.pdf.

Westman, P., & Paulsson, J. (2008). Open Educational Resources in Swedish Higher Education. ScieCom Info, 4(23).

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, National policies, Sweden, UNESCO recommendation on OER, Higher Education

Learning design is the development and creation of learning and teaching experiences based on pedagogical theory and practice. This process might include resource generation, collaboration and sharing between colleagues and the use of participatory technologies (Conole, 2015). It requires learning designers (LDs) to act as well as performing as change agents in higher educational institutions (Bond, Lockee & Blevins, 2023). These attributes are also central to Open Educational Practices (OEP) (Hegarty, 2015), suggesting that effective learning design could be invaluable in advancing Open Education movement. Discussions about learning design often overlook the identity of the LD (Heggart, 2021).

In their position at the nexus of subject areas, institutional priorities and student experience, LDs have been characterised as the connectors between different fields of knowledge and working practices (Roberts, et al., 2023) and problem solvers and change agents (Pollard & Kumar, 2022). OEP and open pedagogy hold the promise of advancing ethical and inclusive education, fostering learner equity. LDs are positioned strategically to facilitate the realisation of making OEP everyone’s business for higher educational institutions. However, this position between fields of knowledge, sometimes labelled the ‘third space’, can put LDs on the margins of education. Their role as change agents can seem peripheral or is not a priority in advancing OEP for their institution.

In a study of LDs and OEP in education institutions, Morgan (2019) found that LDs consider themselves advocates of open education and seek out opportunities to engage in OEP. However, the LDs in the study experienced restrictions on this advocacy; limitations included lack of time, space, and support from leadership. There was a disparity between the intentional and operational agency of the LDs. In the Australian context, there has been little exploration of this relationship between LDs and OEP.

In this presentation, we report on preliminary findings from an initial literature review aimed at understanding the role of LDs in advocating for OEP. Early insights, combined with reflections on our practice, indicate that while libraries and librarians often take the lead in discussions about OER, LDs are not as engaged when the conversation shifts to learning and teaching. Initial feedback from stakeholders highlights the importance of cross-pollination between LDs and other teams, including librarians, faculties and senior management. We believe that everyone has a specific role to play in advancing OEP.

Our focus will be on the core practices of learning design, emphasising that catering to the student learning journey through the constructive alignment of the curriculum is fundamental to effective learning design and central to OEP. UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 calls for effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. By cultivating an understanding of LD agency in OEP, higher education institutions, and all institutions that employ LDs, can ensure their strategy includes the professional development and capacity building needed to move LDs from the periphery to the centre of OEP advocacy.



Included in [Session 10B]: Digital Capability

References
Bond, A., Lockee, B., & Blevins, S. (2023, October 31). Instructional Designers as Institutional Change Agents. EDUCAUSE Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2023/10/instructional-designers-as-institutional-change-agents Conole, G. (2015). The 7Cs of learning design. In J. Dalziel (Ed.), Learning Design: Conceptualizing a framework for teaching and learning online (pp. 117-145). Routledge. Heggart, K. (2021). Formulated Professional Identity of Learning Designers and the Role of Open Education in Maintaining that Identity. In A. Marcus-Quinn & T. Hourigan (Eds.), Handbook for online learning contexts: Digital, mobile and open: policy and practice (pp. 21-34). Springer International Publishing AG. Morgan, T. (2019). Instructional Designers and Open Education Practices: Negotiating the Gap Between Intentional and Operational Agency. Open Praxis, 11(4), 369-380. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.11.4.1011 Pollard, R. & Kumar, S. (2022). Instructional Designers in Higher Education: Roles, Challenges, and Supports. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 11(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.59668/354.5896

Author Keywords
Open educational practices, Learning design, Agency

The COVID-19 pandemic was a pivotal, high impact period in the history of modern education. Seemingly overnight, institutions, programs, and classes around the world moved from being in-person to being online. The amount of individual and collective effort required for this to happen was tremendous. As a result, the pandemic forced both K-12 and post-secondary education systems globally to view the purpose and provision of education, including open education, in different ways. At the same time, the systemic racism against Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour (BIPOC) was simultaneously being brought to the forefront across all facets of society, including education (Boys, 2022).

It is often assumed that open education, by virtue of improving access to education, de facto supports social justice, but this is not the case (Clinton-Lisell et al., 2023; Iniesto & Bossu, 2023; Lambert, 2018; Mills et al., 2023; Raju et al., 2023). Additionally, online learning is generally thought to improve students’ access to education because of the flexibility in when and where to learn that is possible (Brown, 2012; Butcher & Rose-Adams, 2015; Chen et al., 2022; Kennette & Lin, 2021; Maslowski, 2022; Oguz et al., 2015; Park & Choi, 2009; Pastore & Carr-Chellman, 2009; Williams et al., 2023), but it can, in fact, be a site of social injustice for historically marginalized students (Bakermans et al., 2022; Bozkurt et al., 2020; Croft & Brown, 2020; Ortega et al., 2018; Phirangee & Malec, 2017). As a result, using open pedagogy in an online course to support social justice requires intentionality on the part of the instructor (Bali et al., 2020; Hodgkinson-Williams & Trotter, 2018; Lambert, 2018).

For my dissertation, I am undertaking an exploratory, qualitative, and critical interpretive phenomenological study that seeks to answer this central research question: What are the experiences of faculty members who teach online using open pedagogy to support social justice? My study is situated within the context of one post-secondary institution located in British Columbia, and faculty who teach online courses using open pedagogy to support social justice are being interviewed to better understand how they conceptualize social justice, how they operationalize it using open pedagogy, and what approaches and strategies they use to develop their social justice leadership. In my presentation, I will share preliminary results from my study, and participants will have an opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and share ideas.



Included in [Session 10E]: Social Justice

References
Bakermans, M., Pfeifer, G., San Martín, W., & LeChasseur, K. (2022). Who writes and who responds? Gender and race-based differences in open annotations. Journal for Multicultural Education, 16(5), 508–521. https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-12-2021-0232 Bali, M., Cronin, C., & Jhangiani, R. S. (2020). Framing open educational practices from a social justice perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.565 Boys, J. (2022). Exploring inequalities in the social, spatial and material practices of teaching and learning in pandemic times. Postdigital Science and Education, 4(1), 13–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-021-00267-z Bozkurt, A., Jung, I., Xiao, J., Vladimirschi, V., Schuwer, R., Egorov, G., Lambert, S. R., Al-Freih, M., Pete, J., Olcott, Jr., D. Rodes, V., Aranciaga, I., Bali, M., Alvarez, Jr., A. V., Roberts, J., Pazurek, A., Raffaghelli, J. E., Panagiotou, N., de Coëtlogon, P., Shahadu, S., Brown, M., Asino, T. I. Tumwesige, J., Ramírez Reyes, T., Barrios Ipenza, E., Ossiannilsson, E., Bond, M., Belhamel, K., Irvine, V., Sharma, R. C., Adam, T., Janssen, B., Sklyarova, T., Olcott, N. Ambrosino, A., Lazou, C., Mocquet, B., Mano, M., & Paskevicius, M. (2020). A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 1-126. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3778083 Brown, J. L. M. (2012). Online learning: A comparison of web-based and land-based courses. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 13(1), 39–42. Butcher, J., & Rose-Adams, J. (2015). Part-time learners in open and distance learning: Revisiting the critical importance of choice, flexibility and employability. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 30(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680513.2015.1055719 Chen, V., Sandford, A., LaGrone, M., Charbonneau, K., Kong, J., & Ragavaloo, S. (2022). An exploration of instructors’ and students’ perspectives on remote delivery of courses during the COVID‐19 pandemic. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(3), 512–533. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13205 Clinton-Lisell, V.E., Roberts-Crews, J., & Gwozdz, L. (2023). SCOPE of open education: A new framework for research. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 24(4), 135-153. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v24i4.7356 Croft, B., & Brown, M. (2020). Inclusive open education: Presumptions, principles, and practices. Distance Education, 41(2), 156–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1757410 Hodgkinson-Williams, C. A., & Trotter, H. (2018). A social justice framework for understanding open educational resources and practices in the Global South. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3), 204–224. https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v5i3.312 Iniesto, F., & Bossu, C. (2023). Equity, diversity, and inclusion in open education: A systematic literature review. Distance Education, 44(4), 694-711. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2023.2267472 Kennette, L. N., & Lin, P. S. (2021, December 16). The case for asynchronous online courses: How do students benefit. The Society for the Teaching of Psychology. https://teachpsych.org/E-xcellence-in-Teaching-Blog/12197763 Kishimoto, K. (2018). Anti-racist pedagogy: From faculty's self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 540-554. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248824 Lambert, S. R. (2018). Changing our (dis)course: A distinctive social justice aligned definition of open education. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v5i3.290 Maslowski, A. K. (2022). Infusing multiculturalism, identity, and social justice in asynchronous courses. Teaching of Psychology, 49(1), 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320964772 Mills, A., Bali, M., & Eaton, L. (2023). How do we respond to generative AI in education? Open educational practices give us a framework for an ongoing process. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 6(1), 16-30. https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2023.6.1.34 Oguz, F., Chu, C. M., & Chow, A. S. (2015). Studying online: Student motivations and experiences in ALA-accredited LIS programs. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 56(3), 213–231. https://doi.org/10.12783/issn.2328-2967/56/3/4 Ortega, A., Andruczyk, M., & Marquart, M. (2018). Addressing microaggressions and acts of oppression within online classrooms by utilizing principles of transformative learning and liberatory education. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 27(1), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2017.1417945 Park, J.-H., & Choi, H. J. (2009). Factors influencing adult learners’ decision to drop out or persist in online learning. Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 207–217. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.12.4.207 Pastore, R., & Carr-Chellman, A. (2009). Motivations for residential students to participate in online courses. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(3), 263–277. Phirangee, K., & Malec, A. (2017). Othering in online learning: An examination of social presence, identity, and sense of community. Distance Education, 38(2), 160–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1322457 Raju, R., Claassen, J., & De Lillie, K. (2023). Social justice: The golden thread in the openness movemen

Open pedagogy offers a transformative approach to education that prioritizes accessibility, inclusivity, and active engagement, fostering both epistemic and social justice. This presentation explores the application of open pedagogy to mitigate educational inequalities, addressing critical questions around the construction of equitable learning activities, design choices that enhance epistemic virtue, and the implementation of social justice interventions in learner-centric environments.

Constructing Activities to Mitigate Epistemic Vices

Epistemic vices undermine the learning process and perpetuate educational inequities. This section examines strategies for designing activities that actively counter these vices. By integrating collaborative projects, peer review, and reflective practices, educators can create a learning environment that values diverse perspectives and encourages critical thinking. Activities such as co-created content, and community-based learning projects are highlighted as effective tools for fostering open-mindedness and intellectual humility. These approaches not only mitigate epistemic vices but also promote a culture of continuous inquiry and mutual respect among learners.

Enhancing Epistemic Virtue through Design Choices

Epistemic virtues, including curiosity, intellectual courage, and open-mindedness, are essential for a just and equitable educational environment. This section explores how thoughtful design choices in open pedagogy can enhance these virtues. For instance, the use of open educational resources (OER) allows students to engage with a variety of materials and viewpoints, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Incorporating problem-based learning and inquiry-driven projects can stimulate intellectual curiosity and encourage students to take intellectual risks. The presentation also discusses the role of scaffolding and culturally responsive assessment practices in supporting the development of these virtues, ensuring that all learners, regardless of their background, have the opportunity to thrive academically.

Social Justice Interventions in a Learner-Centric Environment

Open pedagogy inherently supports social justice by prioritizing the needs and voices of learners. This section outlines practical interventions that can be implemented to promote social justice in educational settings. By adopting inclusive teaching practices, such as culturally responsive pedagogy and universal design for learning (UDL), educators can create environments that acknowledge and value the diverse experiences of all students. The presentation highlights case studies of successful social justice interventions, such as participatory action research projects and service-learning initiatives, that empower students to engage with and address real-world social issues. These interventions not only enhance learning outcomes but also foster a sense of agency and social responsibility among students.

The integration of open pedagogy in educational practice holds significant potential for advancing epistemic and social justice. By learning from activities that mitigate epistemic vices, making intentional design choices to enhance epistemic virtues, and implementing targeted social justice interventions, educators can create equitable and inclusive learning environments. This presentation aims to provide educators with practical strategies and insights to leverage open pedagogy in the pursuit of educational equity, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to succeed and contribute to a just society.



Included in [Session 10E]: Social Justice

Author Keywords
Social Justice, Epistemic Justice, Learner-Centric, Universal Design for Learning, Open Pedagogy

The Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) [1] is an international network of doctoral researchers and alumni who work in the field of open education. The network currently has 179 doctoral researcher and alumni members, an increase of 54% since 2020. Our members’ institutions are based in 28 different countries around the world and approximately 30% of our membership is based in the Global South. The GO-GN network also includes a wider community of several hundred experts, supervisors, mentors and other interested parties who connect to form a community of practice. Open is GO-GN's business!

GO-GN supports and connects our members, raises the profile of member research and actively promotes and explores openness as a form and function of research. Central to our mission are equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). We achieve these aims in a range of ways, including holding regular online events (such as member research specials, guest speaker events and edit-a-thons), face-to-face workshops, collaborative publication opportunities (e.g. our Open Research Handbook) [2] sprints (e.g. on OEP and AIED) and 1:2:1 sessions. This increased diversity of our offer reflects both our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and our community of care approach [3].

Hosting events to support and connect our doctoral researchers prior to major international open educational conferences are a priority for GO-GN. Last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary in Edmonton, Canada prior to the Open Education Global 2023 conference [4]. Prior to OE Global 2024 we will be holding a two-day symposium and workshop to enable networking, the sharing of research and collaboration. Our symposium on day one will comprise networking and research sharing activities. The focus of day two’s workshop, which will be open for participation from the wider open education community, will be to progress our EDI work, particularly in the Asia and Pacific regions.

We are proposing a presentation session at OE Global 2024 to showcase and amplify the voices and research of our doctoral researcher and alumni members who will be participating in our workshop and this year’s OE Global conference. This session will facilitate and support networking through the sharing of research between GO-GN and the wider OE Global community. The presentation will begin with a very brief overview of GO-GN, followed by a series of short interactive lightening talks from GO-GN members on their research. These lightening talks will provide insights into the diversity of current doctoral research into open education. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions, interaction and feedback in this fast-paced session!



Included in [Session 10B]: Digital Capability

References
[1] http://go-gn.net [2] https://go-gn.net/gogn_outputs/open-research-handbook/ [3] e.g. Weller, M. (21 July 2020) GO-GN community in a time of crisis (https://blog.edtechie.net/go-gn/go-gn-community-in-a-time-of-crisis/) and Weller, M., Farrow, R., Pitt, R. & Iniesto, P. (2021) Care and Community in the GO-GN network. OERXDomains 2021 Conference (https://open.library.okstate.edu/oerxdomain2021guide/chapter/care-community-in-the-go-gn-network/) [4] https://go-gn.net/category/10th-anniversary-workshop/

Author Keywords
Open Research, Open Educational Practices, Open Education, Doctoral Research, Community of Practice, Community of Care, Co-creation, Collaboration, Equity Diversity and Inclusion

In 2021 California made the largest public investment in history in OER and Zero Textbook Cost degrees with a $115M grant program. Beginning in 2022, all California Community Colleges received funds to develop and implement ZTC pathways. As of 2024, colleges are developing hundreds of ZTC pathways to transform the student experience in the United States’ largest system of higher education, serving 2M+ students.

In this session, hear from leaders who are coordinating and supporting colleges in this historic work. What supports are provided to colleges? How are diversity, equity, and inclusion woven into support for colleges? What role do Open Pedagogy and Generative AI play? What is the sustainability plan for this massive undertaking? We will also consider how California got here and what it will mean when all colleges offer ZTC pathways.

The unique audience of OEGlobal presents an opportunity to consider how the ZTC movement in California can impact higher education in general. 



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
Zero Textbook Cost degrees, Open Education policies and strategies, Community colleges

When we started setting up a portal for Open Educational Resources at universities in Lower Saxony in 2019, now known as twillo.de, we were not the first in Germany to embark on such a project. At the same time, state-wide repositories in the higher education sector were also set up and disseminated in other federal states. A centralised platform could have saved resources here, but the approach of distributed repositories offers greater potential for innovation through the possibility of testing different approaches and lightweight further development. It was clear from the outset that the repositories still needed to be merged so that teachers and students would not end up having to search numerous sources in parallel. For this reason, we started building a central OER search index for distributed and heterogeneous OER repositories in 2020, which has since then been publicly available at oersi.org.

As it turned out that searching through a much larger amount of materials in OERSI was much more convenient and performant than searching in our own repository itself, we decided to develop a plugin for WordPress with which we could integrate the search functionality of OERSI into the twillo homepage. OERSI offers the option of submitting queries via an open API and receiving the metadata. This solution has shown that the approach of integrating the search into websites is also becoming increasingly interesting for other providers of OER platforms as well, as the configurability of the plugin also allows specific parts of materials to be preselected. For example, a university of education can limit itself to the subjects of the teacher training programme, a technical university to the selection of engineering and natural sciences subjects or to the restriction of regional offerings or selected languages. Compared to other metasearch engines, this approach offers the possibility of making cross-regional, multilingual and international content available on your own website.

Due to the open design of this overall architecture as an open service and with open source components in combination with compact tutorials on the use and integration of GitHub and GitLab for the provision of OER, complete solutions can be implemented in the shortest possible time using simple means, even for smaller institutions without a large infrastructure, with minimum costs and maximum results. The overall system offers a pragmatic approach to an infrastructure for finding and publishing Open Educational Resources that is already available worldwide today.

Now that the success of this overall approach has been demonstrated in the context of Open Educational Resources, we are currently working on a possible subsequent use of the components for other areas of Open Science, e.g. to make open data or course information from university alliances from distributed sources findable in the same way and, in the case of data, to point out an easy way for sharing and collaboration.



Included in [Session 10B]: Digital Capability

References
OERSI https://oersi.org/ twillo https://www.twillo.de/ Plugin https://gitlab.com/TIBHannover/oer/wordpress-oersi-plugin Tutorials https://oersi.org/resources?search=%22github+oer+tutorial%22 Metadata Form https://oersi.gitlab.io/metadata-form/metadata-generator.html

Author Keywords
Distributed Repositories, Search Index, WordPress Integration, Tutorials, OERSI

In keeping with the theme of “Open is Everyone’s Business”, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) will share a comprehensive, nuts-and-bolts look into its Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Initiative and the collaboration required from various departments across the university in order to ensure ZTC courses are identified and marked during course registration. In the ZTC Initiative, KPU Open partners with the Library, the Registrar’s Office, Faculties and Departments, the Office of Planning and Accountability, and with individual instructors.

In Spring 2018, KPU embarked on a groundbreaking mission: to eliminate textbook costs for students. With support from BCcampus, KPU pioneered Canada's first ZTC Initiative, introducing 75 ZTC sections and a flexible 1-year Certificate in Arts credential. Since then, the initiative has flourished, transforming the educational landscape. Now, just six years later, KPU offers an impressive average of 22% course section offerings with ZTC, along with eight known ZTC credentials, including two four-year Baccalaureate degrees. As ZTC has grown, so have the needs to support the initiative, needs which required reaching out to other departments.

This presentation will give participants a practical and concrete look into how we manage the various parts of the ZTC program daily. As the program continues to grow, we continually examine our process to see how to improve and simplify as much as possible. We will for example discuss how students are made aware of the existence of ZTC courses, such as through the ZTC marker in Banner, as well as through our Student Ambassador Pilot and a social media campaign in collaboration with the Kwantlen Student Association.

We will also show how we collect data on ZTC courses; a new and improved process that involves collaboration with the Registrar’s Office, Deans, and the Office of Planning and Accountability.

We continually strive to grow the number of ZTC courses and programs. In order to ensure the availability of ZTC options for students in all areas of study, we have adjusted our grant structure to specifically target courses lacking in ZTC options. In addition, the Library and liaison librarians support ZTC classes in several ways, for example with a scanning service, assistance in finding relevant open materials, providing library materials with unlimited simultaneous users, as well as added options to improve accessibility of materials.

Lastly, we will provide a glimpse into our future plans, such as the creation of a Low Textbook Cost marker in addition to ZTC, how to future increase student awareness of both those programs, and our search for a new method for tracking OER Adoptions across KPU.



Included in [Session 10E]: Social Justice

Author Keywords
zero textbook cost program, open education policies and strategies, sustainability

“An area of HE activity that is highly inequitable is the provision of expensive fully copyrighted print-based textbooks” (Cox, Masuku and Willmers: 2020).

Open educational resources (OER) have gained traction in many parts of the world, through their expression as open textbooks. South Africa is no exception when it comes to proclaiming their commitment to such open practice. The Open Learning Policy Framework for South African Post-School Education and Training commits higher education (HE) to such pursuits (Department: Higher Education and Training, 2017). As well as this national commitment, literature clearly demonstrates that open textbooks have the potential to disrupt the trajectory of exclusion in South African Higher Education by addressing issues of cost.

Open textbooks are also seen as a solution to variable quality of educational resources as well as addressing social injustice through increased access to learning materials (Cox et al., 2020; Hodgkinson-Williams & Arinto, 2017). The Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) Project found that open textbooks “addressed economic, cultural, and political in justices faced by their students, issues not considered by traditional textbooks” (OER Africa, 2024). However, not much is known about the use of open textbooks in South African Higher education, especially in Accounting education and more specifically taxation education. Taxation is the focus of this study because of its content uniqueness to specific countries based on regional tax law.

In addition to the geographical uniqueness annual amendments to Tax Acts necessitate the continual updating of some content. Most universities in South Africa prescribe textbooks for undergraduate taxation modules (Department: Higher Education and Training, 2020). For all the reasons provided above and others reported in literature on open textbooks, this study aims to explore the use of open textbooks in Taxation. The challenge is that for the use of a taxation open textbooks to be sustainable, someone needs to take responsibility for updating for annual changes. Currently this function is performed by various commercial publishers who pay authors to do this.

The paper will report on a study focused on exploring the use of open textbooks in tax education. The paper will first report on a scoping review on the use of open textbooks in business education globally. The overarching question was: How are open textbooks used in business education? Following the scoping review, the study surveyed undergraduate taxation lecturers at South African universities to garner their perceptions regarding the use of open textbooks with the intention of introducing the use of open textbooks in tax education. The paper will report on the findings of this survey and more specifically identifying the challenges that need to be mitigated so that open textbooks or a sustainable alternative that speaks to increased access to learning materials and lower costs, can be introduced in the South African taxation education arena.



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Cox, G., Masuku, B., & Willmers, M. (2020). Open textbooks and social justice: Open educational practices to address economic, cultural and political injustice at the University of Cape Town. Department: Higher Education and Training. (2017). Open Learning Policy Framework for Post-School Education and Training. (). https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201704/40772gon335.pdf Department: Higher education and Training. (2020). Students' Access to and Use of Learning Materials. Survey Report 2020. (). Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. https://www.usaf.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DHET_SAULM-Report-2020.pdf Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Arinto, P. (2017). Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South. African Minds. OER Africa. (2024). What are the benefits of open textbooks in the Global South? OER Africa. Retrieved 19 May 2024, from https://www.oerafrica.org/content/what-are-benefits-open-textbooks-global-south

Author Keywords
Open Textbooks, OER, Accounting (Taxation)Education, Higher Education

Our recent publication, an innovative open book, “Communication across Cultures”, designed to enhance intercultural competence, leverages culture as content and language as a medium to aim at facilitating effective communication in a context that may present cultural challenges.

This presentation will showcase how the book integrates interactive and collaborative tasks, employing H5P and reflective activities to create an engaging learning experience. This open book is structured in three modules to provide students with opportunities to immerse themselves in various cultural contexts through dynamic and various multimedia materials. By using videos, interactive quizzes, and discussions, this book addresses different learning styles, ensuring that individual students can connect with the content in a meaningful way.

The interactive tasks are not only informative but also encourage students to engage in critical thinking and self-reflection about their cultural assumptions and biases. These tasks in the modules are designed to be flexible and adaptable, allowing educators to tailor the content to their specific classroom needs. Moreover, this book serves as a prime example of how supplementary educational resources can be created using open educational resources (OERs). By maximising the use of OERs, we have curated a wealth of high-quality materials that educators can access and apply. This approach not only reduces the cost of educational resources but also fosters a culture of sharing and collaboration in the educational community.

Before introducing this book in the classroom, using an adapted usability testing framework, data were collected from the researcher’s notes, during participant interactions with the book during the workshop, six individual participants written comments and interviews with two participants, and feedback from three educators. The data were analysed using a usability matrix (Kessler & Plakans, 2001, p.8) with a focus on three aspects: design, navigation, and content.



Included in [Session 10D]: Open Texts (Workshops)

References
Kessler, G., & Plakans, L. (2001). Incorporating ESOL learners' feedback and usability testing in instructor-developed CALL materials. TESOL Journal, 10(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1949-3533.2001.tb00012.x

Author Keywords
Roles of technology, Open educational resources, Culture and language learning

Title and talk TBA but we might expect from recent talks Martin will be speaking about the future of open education and artificial intelligence. It will be interesting!

Included in [Session 11A]: Artificial Intelligence

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 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 definition of open educational practices (OEP) is ever changing in the open education community, and recent years has seen this definition shift to encompass pedagogical practices that have less of a focus on OER and focus on advancing social justice in our classroom spaces (Cronin & MacLaren, 2018; Croft & Brown, 2020). However, the discussion falls short when talking about student assessment in a course, and as a result, grading practices often come in direct conflict with the ideals and values that underpin OEP.

Because OEP has a strong focus on student autonomy and empowerment, it results in a shift in the traditional relationship between student and instructor, usually with a focus on knowledge creation, but we would argue that shift can and does occur when employing collaborative grading practices (ungrading) where students have input and can discuss their learning and the resulting grade in the course with the instructor. Students themselves have a much better sense of the work they have put into a course and as a result, a much better sense of their learning in a course. Traditional grading systems have been shown to not be reliable when measuring student learning and to also perpetuate harm on students in the process. Because employing OEP in the classroom requires developing a relationship of trust between instructors and students, those traditional grading practices can and do create conflict.

In addition, traditional grading practices can expand the equity gap, disproportionally harming students that come from underserved populations. As a basic example, simple averaging of grades across a term will favor students that were better prepared at the beginning for the course in question, despite students being at the same point at the end of the term. There is no room in this system to account for the differences in the learning gains. Here, we argue that collaborative grading practices seek to advance representational justice (Lambert, 2018), giving students power and voice to their own experiences in the classroom, and taking into consideration their experiences outside of the classroom as well.

In this session, two practitioners of ungrading will speak to their journeys in adopting alternative assessment in their courses, one who came to it through the lens of open pedagogy and creating OER with her students, and one who arrived at it from an equity standpoint, without OER as an impetus. Together, we will argue that because collaborative grading practices challenge traditional teaching practices and are rooted in constructivist and connectivist pedagogies, it should be considered an open educational practice, decoupled from the creation of OER.



Included in [Session 11C]: WIL and Microcredentials

References
Croft, B., & Brown, M. (2020). Inclusive open education: Presumptions, principles, and practices. Distance Education, 41(2), 156-170. Cronin, C., & MacLaren, I. (2018). Conceptualising OEP: A review of theoretical and empirical literature in Open Educational Practices. Open praxis, 10(2), 127-143. Lambert, S. R. (2018). Changing our (dis) course: A distinctive social justice aligned definition of open education. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3).

Author Keywords
Alternative Assessment, Ungrading, Collaborative Grading, Open Educational Practice, Social Justice, Equity

The Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS) Collaborative was an organization that began in 2018 through a partnership of three higher education systems. The organization’s original goals included facilitation of partnerships among system, state, and consortial open education programs. As of 2024, the DOERS collaborative has built out conversations and deliverables which build organizational excellence through sustainability and infrastructure, advance open education impact through advocacy and demonstrating value, and enhance member capacity through sharing, collaboration, and leadership. Each of these strategic goals help strengthen collaboration and quality education by supporting open as everyone’s business.

This presentation will share the perspectives and experiences of a panel of the 2024 DOERS steering committee as they continue to build on the work accomplished since 2018. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the OER Equity Blueprint, discover how institutions of higher education in the US and Canada have incorporated open practice into retention, promotion and tenure process, and hear how the growing organization has collaboratively enacted strategic planning sessions to build bylaws and enhance organizational structure.

This session will also share out a call for proposals for the DOERS open education research case study collection, describe how DOERS is supporting student success through open practices and microcredentials, and relate how the organization plans to build the leadership capacity of its representatives.



Included in [Session 11B]: Sustainability

Author Keywords
Access, Community Impact, Micro-credentialing, Open education policies and strategies, Sustainability

Although micro-credentials are gaining traction in higher education, more particularly for students who want short, practical, and up-to-date courses for upskilling themselves, there is an ongoing challenge regarding the recognition of micro-credentials by various stakeholders. This has an implication on the portability of micro-credentials should a student wish to transfer or translate credentials from one context to another (Chakroun & Keevy, 2018). Literature shows that some higher education institutions prefer to stake their own micro-credentials to make up a macro-credential or qualification, while others at the least, offer micro-credentials as a pre-cursor course for students looking to enter a diploma or a degree (Varadarajan, Koh & Daniel, 2023).

The portability of courses and credit transfer between contexts (institutions) is not a new issue for South Africa thus, the micro-credentials are increasing this complexity. The Council of Higher Education (CHE) acknowledges that the development of a micro-credentialing policy and strategy is at its infancy but in the meantime, entrusts institutional structures with the micro-credentials’ quality assurance and integrity. The CHE allows firstly, that credit bearing modules that are part of a formal qualification but that are taken for non-degree purposes (NDP) can be recognised as micro-credentials in formal qualifications through Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) mechanisms. Secondly, micro-credentials can be recognised through their inclusion in an assessed portfolio of evidence for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for access and/or advanced standing into formal qualifications (CHE Communiqué 2 of 2023, p. 2).

In this paper, I describe how the principles of social justice have informed the design of the Postgraduate Diploma in Blended and Online Learning Design (BOLD). As a means of advancing social justice imperatives, at the university of Cape Town, we are piloting both approaches: using micro-credentials for CAT and RPL. The BOLD PGDip development team has developed the programme (with four 30 credit clusters comprising three 10 credit courses each = 120 credits), which is at the final stages of the accreditation process. As a means of widening access to the courses for lifelong learning, each of the 10 credit courses will be offered for NDP, as short courses to anyone (with a learning design mandate) who wishes to upskill themselves, but should one decide to pursue the PGDip at a later stage, they will be allowed to use these credentials for CAT – this can be up to 50% of the PGDip only. One of short courses, Designing with Artificial Intelligence is being piloted in 2024. At the same time, to enhance access and inclusion, those who do not meet the PGDip entry requirements through their formal qualifications but have relevant work experience, we will use RPL to consolidate their informal learning. In addition to that, they will have to take a short course packaged by the team. This will also be showcased to the participants.



Included in [Session 11C]: WIL and Microcredentials

References
Chakroun, B., & Keevy, J. (2018). Digital credentialing: implications for the recognition of learning across borders. Published United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France, under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/) Council of Higher Education (2023). Communiqué 2 of 2023. Available: https://www.che.ac.za/#/main Varadarajan, S., Koh, J. H. L., & Daniel, B. K. (2023). A systematic review of the opportunities and challenges of micro-credentials for multiple stakeholders: learners, employers, higher education institutions and government. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 13.

Author Keywords
Access, Inclusivity, Lifelong and informal learning, Micro-credentialing and micro-credentials, Social justice

In September 2023 (another) high school opened with an explicit goal to teach with, produce and learn with Open Educational Resources. The Itz’at STEAM Academy (ISA) in Belize opened to its first form (grade) of students in September 2023 as an OER focused high school. The development of ISA benefitted from over two decades of history and experience from leaders in the open education movement.

ISA’s development is led by three organizations, the school, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (Belize) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts, USA). MIT is well known internationally for its leadership in OER (MIT Open CourseWare) and a strong focus on STEAM education. MIT worked with Mountain Heights Academy (MHA, Utah, USA) to build a(nother) OER high school. MHA, originally the Open High School of Utah, was founded with a focus on the use and production of OER. Founded in 2009, MHA serves U.S. grades 7-12, has award winning teachers and is a leader in digital education and utilizing OER.

This session will describe the path from the launch of MIT OpenCourseWare through the founding of Mountain Heights Academy to the development and launch of Itz’at STEAM Academy. The session will describe how the growth of and experiences of MHA (Tonks et al. 2013; Tonks 2022) set the foundation for the OER policies at ISA (Itz’at STEAM Academy 2022), how the OER policies of ISA are contextualized for its success and the initial use of and development of OER at ISA. And it will describe the potential of OER at ISA to serve as a model for project based and transdisciplinary learning in secondary education in Belize.



Included in [Session 11B]: Sustainability

References
Tonks, D., Weston, S., Wiley, D., & Barbour, M. (2013). “Opening” a new kind of school: The story of the Open High School of Utah. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. (14)1, 255-271. Tonks, D. (2022). La evolución del primer bachillerato con un currículum de recursos abiertos. Revista Mexicana De Bachillerato A Distancia, 14(27). Itz’at STEAM Academy. (2022). Open Educational Resources Policy.

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, OER, K-12, High School, OER Policy

In recent years, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) has made significant strides in ensuring that its Open Educational Resources (OERs) are accessible to all learners. This presentation outlines our efforts, challenges, and strategies in addressing accessibility within our OER publishing workflows. We will also touch upon the next steps we plan to take to further enhance accessibility of our publications.

In 2022, KPU Open collaborated with a co-op student to develop an accessibility rubric aligned with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The goal was to evaluate the accessibility of KPU's Pressbooks catalogue, which hosts a diverse range of OERs. The rubric served as a critical tool for assessing various aspects of accessibility, including text structure, alt text, multimedia content, and layout design.

The student meticulously evaluated 29 OERs using the newly created rubric. Unfortunately, the results revealed several common accessibility gaps: - Heading Structure: Many OERs lacked a consistent and well-organized heading structure, making it challenging for users to navigate content effectively. - Text Emphasis: Overreliance on bold or italicized text for conveying meaning led to inconsistencies and hindered comprehension. - Alt Text Mismatch: Images often had alt text that did not accurately describe their content, limiting accessibility for visually impaired users. - Tables and Captions: Some OERs contained layout tables without proper headers, and videos featured auto-generated, unedited captions.

Across the 29 books assessed, the accessible design success ranged from intermittent (level 1) to marginal (level 2)

Following the assessment, KPU's Open Publishing Suite (OPUS) implemented several measures to enhance OER accessibility: - Accessibility Statement: KPU created a clear and explicit accessibility statement for its website, emphasizing the importance of OER accessibility. - Student Assistant Training: Open Education Student Assistants now receive training in accessibility standards along with the rest of their training. Equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills, they contribute to making OERs more accessible during the creation process by being able to spot and fix accessibility issues immediately when doing the initial conversion. - OER Grant Application: The grant application process now includes a question specifically asking how applicants plan to address accessibility in their OER projects. This proactive step encourages thoughtful consideration of accessibility from the outset. - Project Agreements: OPUS revised its Project Agreements with OER Grant recipients, explicitly discussing common accessibility pitfalls identified during the assessment. This ensures that creators are aware of potential issues and can plan accordingly. - Pre-Publication Accessibility Review: An accessibility review is now part of the pre-publication checklist. By catching any oversights early, KPU aims to minimize accessibility gaps in its OERs.

KPU's commitment to accessibility extends beyond compliance—it reflects a dedication to equitable learning experiences. As the university continues to refine its OER publishing workflows, it remains steadfast in its mission to make education accessible to all.



Included in [Session 11C]: WIL and Microcredentials

Author Keywords
accessibility, OER publication, publishing processes