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.
The ASCILITE Open Educational Practices Special Interest Group (OEP-SIG) is a practitioner-led community that supports open educational practice (OEP) in Australian Higher Education. Each month, they produce a monthly digest on all things OEP. The digest is curated by Ashleigh Barber (University of South Australia), Jennifer Hurley (RMIT), Alice Leutchford (James Cook University) and Nikki Andersen (University of Southern Queensland).
The latest issue of the digest features an excellent list of new open texts and resources produced by Australian academic libraries.
A Long Goodbye by James Cook University
James Cook University has published their first open ebook via Pressbooks titled: ‘A Long Goodbye: Ed and Mary’s Journey with Lewy Body Dementia’. The book chronicles Ed’s experiences as a carer following his wife Mary’s diagnosis with Lewy body dementia. Ed’s story provides information and educational resources related to dementia care. Although specifically focusing on Lewy body dementia, the resources are transferable to caring for people with any type of dementia.
Women’s voices in tourism research by the University of Queensland
This book showcases the many contributions that women worldwide have made to tourism research. It also serves as a collective mentoring platform, containing letters written by women to the future generations of tourism researchers and passing on invaluable observations and advice.
23 Scholarly Communication Things by Queensland University of Technology
This resource has been created as an aid to help library staff to learn about the various aspects of Scholarly Communication. It is designed to be of use to those who are new to academic librarianship and for seasoned professionals wishing to keep up-to-date.
It is not a ‘how to’ guide, but rather a doorway to information that will help you on your quest for knowledge and experience, using various tools and sites related to world of scholarly communications.
Visuals for Influence by the University of Southern Queensland
‘Visuals for influence: in project management and beyond’ is a practical guide with 24 visuals to download, adapt and deploy to engage your stakeholders. This practical guide will build your confidence and practical skills to quickly and effectively leverage the benefits of visuals to maximise your influence.
Uncover the science behind the power in visuals
Discover software and tools that make visualisation easy
Learn pro design tips that give your visuals a professional edge
Download a visual archetype, tailor to your needs, and enhance your influence!
Deleting Dystopia by University of Southern Queensland
‘Deleting Dystopia: Re-asserting Human Priorities in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ confirms that the existential threats posed by the misuse of advanced digital technologies are real. But, in place of apathy and fatalism, the book explores ways of understanding the threat, conceptualising solutions and identifying strategies that lead away from digital authoritarian futures towards those funded on humanly viable values and practices.
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
This post was written by Coral Black, University Librarian at the University of Newcastle.
The University of Newcastle Library launched its new Students as Partners Framework on 27 July, building on our strong reputation in delivering excellent student support this takes us one step further where students co-create and co-deliver our services as an integral member of our library team.
The new framework outlines how we engage and collaborate meaningfully with students through partnership and employment. Our aim is to increase the number of students we employ, engage through internships or on WIL placements to enhance the student experience and help facilitate life-ready graduates.
The Students as Partners Framework is designed to:
provide a common language and conceptual lens for staff and students to understand collaborative engagement and Students as Partners approaches.
assist in identifying and developing opportunities for student employment and partnerships within the Library.
guide thinking and decision making as staff and students generate ideas and begin to develop opportunities, projects, and activities.
This Framework describes many initiatives the Library has been undertaking for some time, including paid internships, Work Integrated Learning (WIL) projects, paid project related roles, and volunteer roles for students. It distils and formalises the Library’s approach by describing three distinct pillars to which these activities align. These broad anchoring categories help to define the different ways that the Library engages collaboratively with students. The pillars are:
Employed and Upskilled
Included and Empowered
Informed and Heard.
Three pillars: Employed and Upskilled; Included and Empowered; Informed and Heard
The Students as Partners Framework is also a launching pad to expand the scope of student collaborations to identify and develop new ideas and opportunities. To this end, the Framework outlines ten Key Considerations for Library staff and students to inform thinking as we develop new opportunities and evolve existing ones. The considerations relate to:
Inclusiveness
Expertise
Learning
Agency
Recognition
Relevance
Expectations
Reach
Perspectives
Accountability
Ten Key Considerations
The Library will use this Framework to create diverse, inclusive, relevant, transparent, and impactful opportunities for students. Students will be listened to as equal partners, whose expertise is acknowledged and whose contributions are valued and recognised. They will be able to affect change, directly enhancing the student experience and creating life-ready graduates.
University libraries play a number of key roles in enabling contemporary teaching and learning, including
curating, collecting and creating information resources related to the curriculum
consulting and advising through curriculum design processes
partnering with educational designers and academic developers to provide holistic support for course development
embedding information literacy instruction in the curriculum
championing digital literacy
supporting academics to find, use, adapt or create open educational resources.
In many institutions, academic skills development is also part of the library’s remit. Even the work libraries undertake that isn’t directly related to teaching and learning impacts it indirectly. For example, supporting open scholarship results in more open access research outputs, which are in turn used in teaching and learning.
Libraries contribute to contemporary teaching and learning in a myriad ways and so our focus on this blog will also be broad. We are keen to explore the various ways that libraries enable a modern curriculum, and to amplify the work CAUL Member institutions do in the teaching and learning space.
So, we have two questions for you!
What topics related to libraries’ role in teaching and learning would you like to see featured here on the blog? Share your thoughts about the topics you’d like to see us explore in the comments! If you’re reading this post as an email, click the post title to head to the blog and add your comment.
Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to write? Perhaps there is something great happening at your institution that you’d like to share, an event that you’d like to write an analysis of, an important message you need to get out, or a resource you’d like to highlight. Perhaps you’d like to share about what enabling a modern curriculum means to you. If you would like to write something from the blog, then we would like to hear from you! You can contact me – Kate Davis (CAUL Director, Strategy & Analytics) – with your ideas for posts.
Our 2022 CAUL conference goal is to bring people together to explore the challenges and opportunities afforded by the modern curriculum.
Do you work in an academic library? Are you interested in student partnerships, open ed resources, digital pedagogies and practices? Well do I have good Friday news! There’s a new conference on the block that’s right up your alley.
CAUL is launching a hybrid conference in September next year with the umbrella theme “Enabling a Modern Curriculum”. Just as we’ve all been experimenting and adapting Library services to very changeable times, this conference will offer an innovative model. Both online and in-person events will be part of the 2022 CAUL Conference. What’s exciting is that the in-person interactive events will run synchronously across multiple states. Collaboration and communication will be key both on the day and in the organising of it!
The 2022 CAUL Conference is all about connections in both digital and face-to face spaces. It’s about sharing work experiences and showcasing research to better shape our practice. It’s about getting to know experts in your field and building your personal network. It’s about bringing together outcomes from all the CAUL Enabling the Modern Curriculum projects. It’s also about practical workshops that will add to your existing skillsets.
An animated brief
Check out this video (also embedded below) that in less than 2 minutes unpacks the what, when, who and how details of the 2022 CAUL Conference.
If you’re the kind of person who loves to deep dive into data (not uncommon tendency in Library folk) then more information can be found in the CAUL Conference Project brief.
Our team
The CAUL Conference Project Team is ably led by Dr Nicole Johnston (Edith Cowan University). With the following team members working with her from across Australia: Lindsey Fratus (University of Newcastle), Naomi Mullumby (University of Melbourne), Sue Hutley (Bond University), Frances O’Neal (Victoria University), Arlene O’Sullivan (La Trobe University), Liz Walkley Hall (Flinders University), and, yours truly, Kat Cain (Deakin University).
What’s next?
Stay tuned for more 2022 CAUL Conference news in the months to come. The project team will be working to bring you updates and ways to get involved. And I highly recommend subscribing to this very blog to keep in the know.
It’s great to be introducing this project and the wonderful team working together on it.
University communities are increasingly regarding their students as ‘partners’, able to contribute valuable skills and expertise that can shape and improve the student experience across a range of areas. Lying at the heart of the University experience, academic libraries in particular are well suited to a ‘Students as Partners’ approach, with their long history of collaboration and engagement (Salisbury and Dollinger, 2020).
The project will generate knowledge and develop practical resources to support good practice in developing Students as Partners projects in academic libraries.
Project objectives
The three main objectives of the group are to:
1. Develop an understanding of, and report on, current practice related to students as partners in academic libraries in Australia and New Zealand, and internationally.
2. Develop an evidence based toolkit to support CAUL member institutions to engage with students as partners.
3. Model a Students as Partners approach by collaborating with students on the development of the toolkit.
The project has clear and tangible benefits for academic libraries. It will create opportunities to share ideas and experiences about Students as Partners and provide access to a valuable toolkit designed to support good practice in their institutions.
Please do our Students as Partners survey – everyone working in an academic library is invited to participate!
Our team
The project team, led by Dr. Mollie Dollinger (Deakin University), includes Danielle Ambriano (University of Technology, Sydney), Kerry Bedford (Australian Catholic University), Kate Conway (Curtin University), Vanessa Crosby (University of New South Wales), Daniel Hamilton (University of Technology, Sydney), Imogen Harris-McNeill (University of Newcastle), Trent Hennessey (University of Melbourne), Paul McKenna (Deakin University), Karen Miller (Curtin University), Wendy Ratcliffe (La Trobe University), and Susan Vickery (Macquarie University).
We’re all excited to be part of this project, and hope you will take a few minutes to watch the video below, in which we share some thoughts about the project and what we hope to achieve.
Reference
Fiona Salisbury, Mollie Dollinger & Jessica Vanderlelie (2020) Students as Partners in the Academic Library: Co-Designing for Transformation, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 26:2-4, 304-321, DOI: 10.1080/13614533.2020.1780275
Open education resources (OER) and accompanying open education practices (OEP), are changing the education landscape. To take on OER-related roles and issues, we need to learn the language and culture of open education and develop expertise in areas such as open licensing, copyright, e-learning, and knowledge about OER technologies and standards.
The Open Educational Resources Professional Development Program project is addressing the OER Professional Development needs of higher education institutions.
The project aims to:
Develop a proposal for an Open Educational Resource professional development program.
Develop and implement an Open Educational Resource professional development program.
The project is led by Marion Slawson (Federation University) and consists of the following team members: Sarah Howard (QUT), Kylie Tran (University of Melbourne), Anne Hawkins (Flinders University), Kate McVey (University of Western Australia) and Nikki Andersen (University of Southern Queensland).
The below video outlines the project’s team current progress.
More information on the Open Educational Resources Professional Development Program project can be found in the project brief (PDF).
Interested in being involved?
Subscribe to the blog to receive project updates and keep an eye out for OER Professional Development 2022.
