It’s the week after Open Access Week, which means it’s time to catch up on all of the great events that you missed last week!
Australian university libraries offered a diverse range of online events last week and I have quite the list of recordings bookmarked to catch up on. There was so much on that it was tricky to prioritise, but many of the events were recorded and institutions have been releasing those recordings over the last few days. Here are three that I’ll be watching this weekend, all focused on open educational resources.
La Trobe eBureau presents: it’s publishing, but not as we know it – creating equitable and engaging resources for online learning
This panel discussion was hosted by the La Trobe eBureau as part of Open Access Week The panellists talked about the experience of writing an open textbook, the benefits and successes of this, and the challenges for normalising a culture of open educational practices in higher education. Facilitated by Fiona Salisbury, the panel featured La Trobe University academics Brianna Julien, Katherine Seaton, and Louise Lexis. Steven Chang, who is a member of the OER Advocacy Project Team gave an overview of La Trobe’s eBureau to start the event.
Open access at UTS: How open textbooks will change your life
This panel session from the University of Technology, Sydney was facilitated by David Yeats and featured UTS academic Dr Amanda White, UTS Learning Design and Technology Specialist Dr Mais Fatayer, and Deakin University’s Dr Sarah Lambert. From the event description:
Libraries are under increasing financial pressure from textbook publishers, with costs skyrocketing and limited licence conditions. Open textbooks offer a solution that is cost-effective for students. They can also be modified for local needs to correct gender, socio-cultural and Indigenous under-representation in the curriculum. There is mounting research to show that students benefit from free textbooks in similar ways to scholarships and financial aid – by lifting grades and course progress rates.
And while you’re at it, if you haven’t yet discovered Dr Amanda White’s YouTube channel Amanda Loves to Audit, I highly recommend you take a look!
Open Education Practice Learning and Teaching grants panel discussion: Open book publishing – motivations and balanced outcomes
The University of Southern Queensland Library hosted a panel session featuring several USQ academics who were recipients of USQ’s Open Education Practice Learning & Teaching Grants and who have authored open books. Facilitated by Professor Christy Collis, the panellists included Assoc Prof Martin Kerby, Honorary Prof Tony Machin, Professor Tanya Machin and Assoc Prof Erich Fein.
Keep a lookout next week for a post about the OER event we co-hosted with Open Access Australasia during Open Access Week, Another kind of open. We’ll be sharing the recording along with all the resources shared in the chat and attendees’ responses to the polls we ran in the session, and extended versions of the case studies we shared during the event will follow over the next couple of weeks.
This post was written by Annette Goodwin, Senior Client Services Librarian at Charles Sturt University. Annette is also a CAUL Digital Dexterity Champion.
Let’s start with an Open Educational Resources framing. OERs are teaching, learning and research materials that “reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions” (UNESCO, n.d.). OERs can therefore include textbooks, curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, software, coded elements and more.
Libraries and librarians around the world support and encourage educators, teachers and academics to create, locate, adapt and use OERs for the benefit of others.
But have you ever thought of the resources and objects you create as a librarian? Could they be considered OERs too? Absolutely!
Everyday, librarians create and use a wide range of resources that support learning, teaching and research at their institutions. Amazing session plans that unpack research methods or interactive infographics about fake news. Workshops on how to make videos or seminar presentations demystifying referencing. Librarians are prolific creators! We need to harness the power of this work and share those resources with others. You may already use platforms like OER Commons or Merlot to locate OERs for your own use or recommend them to your academics, but have you considered sharing to the platforms yourself?
Let’s talk about a Digital Dexterity Commons
The Resource Sharing Group (RSG), a sub-group of the CAUL Digital Dexterity Community of Practice (CoP), has created a Group on OER Commons – Digital Dexterity Educators to help you understand and share OERs you’re creating. The CoP supports their organisations and the wider tertiary library community to build digital dexterity capabilities and drive positive change in relation to technology, so creating a OER sharing group seemed a natural fit.
The RSG is encouraging academic librarians around Australia and New Zealand to join our OER Commons group and share resources. If you’re not sure how to go about creating or sharing OERs, the RSG has created a couple of documents to help you to get started…
One of the most important contributions that libraries can make to their community is to create meaningful learning experiences, and openness is an important factor that can help achieve this. Curtin University Library has been working to create an open, participatory and connected learning space through its online digital dexterity program, 23 Things.
23 Things is a self-directed learning program designed to help students develop the digital capabilities required for successful study, work and life. It consists of online modules, workshops and creative challenges on topics as diverse as video editing, digital security and virtual reality.
Throughout the process of designing, creating and implementing the program, the Library has striven for openness in different ways.
We have been open to trying new approaches in learning design as part of our Students as Partners program, employing students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to design the site, create the content and assist in running the program. Enabling student voices to be heard and fostering peer-supported learning has bought unique perspectives to the program and helped make the content relatable and accessible. As our student partners share their knowledge and experience with their peers, we have seen engagement, enthusiasm and friendships flourish.
An open learning community also requires removing barriers by offering different modes of engagement to cater to different learning styles and preferences. Activity-based learning has formed the bedrock of the program, moving away from passive information delivery. Taking a sequential approach with a focus on a new topic each week, we provide synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities through self-paced online modules, face-to-face and online workshops, creative challenges, and invitations to connect with others.
Another major objective is to make the content accessible and inclusive by ensuring diverse voices and perspectives are represented in the content. The storytelling element of the program, which we use to illustrate how digital skills can be applied in a workplace context, have also provided a rich opportunity for normalising diversity and inclusion. For example, through the fictional character of Charlie who is a ‘deadly yorga’ (or impressive woman), we are able to incorporate our local Nyungar indigenous language and culture into the learning experience.
23 Things is open to anyone to participate, and we have intentionally kept the content generic and applicable to the different contexts of study, work and life. Although the program is now part of Curtin Extra, the University’s extra-curricular credentials program, it also remains open to the wider community. As a result, we are customising our communications to the different groups who engage with the program.
23 Things is an Open Education Resource that is licensed under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA). Each self-paced module has been created as a single H5P file, and is very easy for others to download, re-use and modify.
Our efforts to create an open, inclusive learning space through 23 Things has been extremely rewarding. Being open to new approaches, welcoming anyone to participate, striving for inclusive and diverse representation, and open-licensing the content have all contributed to enabling our community to participate in and contribute to a meaningful, connected learning experience.
This post was written by Adrian Stagg, Manager (Open Educational Practices), University of Southern Queensland. Adrian is the Project Lead for the Open Educational Resources Advocacy project.
The why of open knowledge is a strong focus for higher education institutions. In the open education space, advocates promote the benefits related to social equity, reducing costs, improving learning and teaching outcomes, seeking a market differential, or combinations of these. To achieve these benefits, the way we go about openness is critical. It matters how we approach developing, publishing, adapting and adopting open educational resources (OER).
When we’re advocating for OER, we’re hoping to get to a point where there is institutional support, leading to practical action – and this phase can be just as daunting as the advocacy phase. The manner in which an institution and its staff approach opening knowledge signals strength of commitment and maturity of practice, and impacts on outcomes.
Over the last few years, Open Access Australasia has coordinated an Australian calendar of events with a focus on practicality, and deep conversations. This year is no different.
Whether you are new to openness, or have been involved for a while, the breadth of discussion in the 2021 program will be valuable to you and your colleagues. This is an opportunity to interact and learn in a free and open learning environment. The topics will include:
Ecologies of open access – for whom are we making knowledge open, and what are the next steps?
Changing the thinking around assessing the value of research, and ‘what counts’ as research output
Learning about open research practices from across a spectrum of disciplines
Open Science
Indigenous perspectives on open and closed knowledge and the implications for research
Making research outcomes more accessible
Openness in learning and teaching.
There’s even an opportunity to participate in a hackathon.
Browse through the program and start blocking out your calendar. If you’re fostering open access or open education at any scale, these sessions will be full of practical advise and critical conversations that will prompt you to reflect on how you approach open. Learning from others can help you to make your practice more successful.
This post was written by Frank Ponte, Manager Library Services (Teaching) at RMIT University.
Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash. Image caption: The phrase “Unity in Diversity” graffitied on a wall.
This post summarises the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University Seminar Series panel session titled “Open Textbooks in Australia: updated, localised, inclusive.” The session was facilitated by Helen Partridge (Pro-Vice Chancellor – Teaching and Learning, Deakin University) with research findings presented by Chief Investigator Dr Sarah Lambert (RMIT University). Observations were contributed by panel members Fiona Salisbury (University Librarian – La Trobe University), Dr Johanna Funk (Lecturer – Charles Darwin University) and Professor Kevin Ashford-Rowe (Queensland University of Technology).
A recording of the session is available on YouTube.
Why open textbooks?
Open textbooks are relatively new to the Australian context but are gaining prominence alongside their commercial equivalents. An open textbook provides the ability to modify content to suit your context. An appetite for customised content is increasing, but it becomes a question of time and funds for the creator to support the publication process. There are emerging local institutional investments in the creation of open textbooks at La Trobe, USQ and Sydney University Press to name a few.
Findings of the National Scoping Study
The overarching research question of the Open Textbook in Australia project is: “What extent do open textbooks have the potential to act as social justice initiatives in Australian Higher Education as they do overseas?” The project applied a social justice framework which, when applied to open textbooks, demonstrates that prescribing free materials widens the access to learners from lower socio-economic backgrounds (see Lambert, 2018). The inclusion of case studies, images, indigenous and marginalised narratives in open textbooks provides recognition of diverse views and experiences and the ability for those marginalised voices to express their stories for themselves rather than be recounted by others.
Both staff and students in the study expressed that commercial textbooks demonstrated a lack of recognition when it came to marginalised groups. Commercial textbooks ignored narratives associated with women, LGBT, and indigenous people and were often voiced through a Eurocentric point of view. Inclusive texts were framed as exceptions and interviews with participants were layered with emotion as people articulated negative experiences due to a lived experience of racism.
Belonging and cultural inclusion are important themes in higher education. A lack of belonging can increase feelings of anxiety and depression and hinder study. Consequently, if commercial textbooks lack marginalised narratives and diverse viewpoints, one can draw parallels. The results also demonstrated that students were irritated at the restrictive nature of digital access to commercial texts, the inability to get digital copies and the requirement to employ complex workarounds for alternatives. Textbook costs were also an issue but there was more angst expressed on the digital restrictions.
Unity in Diversity – Open textbooks to the rescue
The survey results showed that 80-90% of teaching staff were open to using open educational resources in teaching with institutional support. 73% were interested in modifying an open textbook and making it relevant to the Australian context and 67% would modify the textbook to make it more representative of marginalised groups.
Staff felt that diversified texts provided a wider variety of perspectives and would better prepare students for the world and workplace. Students who had experienced diversified open access readings agreed.
The research clearly demonstrated that there were social justice benefits to the modification of open texts especially for the underrepresented. The use of open textbooks in curriculum also provided several general benefits, including free access for all, seamless integration into the LMS, and up to date knowledge for better graduate outcomes preparing them for their professions and a diverse workforce.
What’s required?
Institutional support is important in the form of time and grants, particularly for large scale projects. Support from expert staff such as librarians, graphic designers, copy editors, peer reviewers, and proof-readers are all important aspects of textbook creation.
Recommendations:
Reframe OER projects and broaden the scope to both social inclusion and economic benefits
Reframe OER projects as strategic digital innovation linking digital delivery + curriculum renewal + equity/accessibility policies
Push for continued open access publishing for research
Reframe OER as legitimate works and address workload, probation, promotion and publishing outputs
Reframe grant-funding to ensure that OER support strategic curriculum renewal; equity inclusion; focus on 1st year foundation subjects; recognition of indigenous knowledges; improve gender representation
How do we do it?
To get to where we need to be will require a lot of capacity building across the sector. This could be achieved through:
The production of targeted support guides and training workshops
Using OER metafinders and aggregators
Cross promoting Australian OER resources
Training staff in OER curation and creative commons
Co-creating with students, staff, community through ethical partnerships
Amplifying marginalised voices in your creation
Supporting staff to diversify curriculum
The OER movement should tailor development of open resources to fit into the policy and strategic directions established locally at each institution, rather than wait for funding from government legislators.
Policy options
Universities could:
Consider using an OER textbook before a commercial one in new courses
Consider an alternative if there is restricted or no digital access to a textbook
Use OER textbooks for open book exams
Ensure there are targets and timelines for implementation
Have acceptable use guidelines for commercial textbook platforms
Develop strategic sector wide collaboration focusing on high intake, foundation courses that are taught across the sector
Find out more
This was a fascinating session that is well worth watching, especially for the insightful panel session that followed the summary of the research findings. Findings from Sarah’s research will inform the CAUL OER projects so sign up to the blog to keep up-to-date!
Reference: Lambert, S. R. (2018). Changing our (Dis)Course: A Distinctive Social Justice Aligned Definition of Open Education. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3), 225–244. https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/290/334
Open educational resources (OER) are expanding rapidly as a more equitable, flexible and adaptable medium to provide content for teaching and learning, but creating OER texts can feel daunting. The good news is that you don’t need to do it alone!
The CAUL OER Collective Pilot project offers the opportunity to have a go at creating open textbooks in a supportive, collaborative environment.
Sounds good – tell me more!
CAUL is now leading a major initiative to develop, licence and promote a range of OER that leverages the expertise of librarians, copyright experts, academics and authors. The project will oversee the entire open textbook lifecycle, including:
Establishing models for governance, management and membership
Leading administration and publishing processes
Guiding the selection and production of open textbook titles
The project brief (PDF) provides more detail on the deliverables and timeline.
This video introduces the CAUL OER Collective Pilot project and highlights the benefits for students, academics and libraries, as well as a summary of recent Australian research into OER. Keep an eye out for guest appearances by members of the project team.
Our team
The project team, led by Tahnee Pearse (University of Southern Queensland), includes Chloe Czerwiec (University of Western Australia), Anna Du Chesne (University of New England), Samantha Elkington-Dent (University of the Sunshine Coast), Richard Levy (University of South Australia), Jane Norton (Charles Sturt University), Craig Patterson (Deakin University), Frank Ponte (RMIT University), Jaime Royals (University of Adelaide), Ashley Sutherland (University of Melbourne) and Fiona Tyson (University of Canterbury).
Interested in being involved?
Subscribe to the blog to receive project updates and keep an eye out for the call for members coming in November 2021!
1 CAUL program, 5 projects, 28 institutions, 40 team members and 1 new blog!
As the Program Director for CAUL’s Enabling a Modern Curriculum program, I am excited and delighted to launch the program blog. The purpose of this blog is to keep the library and higher education communities up to date on the program’s progress. With the five projects in the program well underway there is lots to share, and you can expect a regular parade of posts in this space. Project team members are looking forward to providing highlights, sharing work-in-progress, giving news updates, and putting out calls to action.
The CAUL Enabling a Modern Curriculum program is designed to bring together the expertise of library staff and academics in two critical and emerging aspects of the modern curriculum – open educational resources (OER) and students as partners. While our definition of a modern curriculum is broad, focussing on these two areas has the most potential to enable and transform future library practice. Enabling a modern curriculum is a shared endeavour, and the program’s aim is to influence a national agenda in these key areas. In leading a reimagining of how libraries enable the curriculum, CAUL is also supporting library staff to make a difference to the student learning experience and student success at a local level.
Where we started
The program kicked off with a Zoom workshop in September 2020, and we started how we intend to continue – with librarians and academics in dialogue in a collaborative and thought-provoking environment. When reflecting on how academic libraries might enable a modern curriculum the things that jumped out at me as needing more attention were OER, student wellbeing, and students as partners. I invited three academics to the workshop to speak to these issues and the associated current challenges facing the HE sector: Professor Helen Partridge on open education, Professor Sally Kift on student wellbeing, and Dr Mollie Dollinger on students as partners. Their presentations were provocative and the conversation that flowed into the breakout rooms was energised and creative. Collectively the 93 workshop participants wrestled with and debated the issues and affirmed key priorities for the program. On closer analysis of the workshop deliberations, it was clear that in OER space we would need to tackle national OER advocacy, OER professional development, and collaborative open textbook creation for the Australian and New Zealand environment. Additionally, I also thought we needed a forum to showcase insights from the projects and make visible a range of good practice initiatives related to all the ways libraries enable the curriculum.
Five projects emerged
So, all things considered, the program started 2021 with five projects:
Project 1: Open Educational Resources Collective Pilot – Project brief (PDF).
Project 2: Open Educational Resources Professional Development Program – Project brief (PDF).
Project 4: Enabling a Modern Curriculum with Students as Partners – Project brief (PDF).
Project 5: CAUL Enabling a Modern Curriculum Conference 2022 – Project brief (PDF).
How we’re working together
Our ways of working within and across projects encourages experimentation, collective thinking, and sector-wide collaboration. The program is ambitious, but all the projects are in good hands and have an enthusiastic and talented team. Each week I meet with Dr Kate Davis from the CAUL National Office and the Project Team leads – Tahnee Pearse (OER Collective Pilot), Marion Slawson (OER PD Program), Adrian Stagg (OER Advocacy), Dr Mollie Dollinger (Students as partners), Dr Nicole Johnson (CAUL Conference). It’s a great team, and together, our careful stewardship of the projects is ensuring that this impressive program has every chance of realising its objective to transform national and local practice, and will position libraries as key partners in enabling a modern curriculum through OER, and with students as partners.
I’d like to thank the 40 library practitioners from 28 institutions who are collaborating on these five projects. This is important work that has not yet been attempted in this way on a national scale. And, more importantly, I hope everyone involved is having fun and forging new professional friendships (the unwritten objectives of involvement in the program!).
Watch this space
To library and academic colleagues who are interested, or curious, or feel inspired by the program, there will be plenty of opportunities to be involved over the coming two years. Watch this space, and when opportunities arise your contribution will be warmly welcomed.
