Overview: In the US, there is desperate need to address inequity in our education system. High poverty-schools account for 25% of all public schools, and in every state, those students complete high school at a significantly lower rate than their peers. This trend continues straight into higher education, where economically disadvantaged students finish their degree programs at significantly lower rates than their peers.
OER has tremendous potential to bring equity to our schools and ensure that all students – regardless of their economic status, location, and background – have access to the same high quality learning materials. But as we push for greater OER adoption, are there ways that OER can exacerbate or entrench existing inequity?
This panel features two higher education experts and two K-12 experts, who will discuss this question and brainstorm how to best position OER as a solution to inequity in education moving forward.
State government leaders can accelerate the adoption of OER in higher ed and k-12, but first they have to know about OER and understand its advantages. This panel will address the best ways you can inform legislators about OER and encourage OER friendly policies in your state. It will feature Hon. Donna Howard, currently serving her seventh term in the Texas House of Representatives, who led the passage of major OER legislation this spring. Joining her will be Nicole Allen, an experienced grassroots organizer, and Daniel Williamson, an OER Producer. Together, we will discuss the best practices for communicating and working with legislators, explore the key components of OER friendly policies, and outline effective ways to organize and mobilize constituents. We will look at these principles in practice, using OpenStax's work in Texas over the past 3 years as an example of successful OER advocacy.
The implementation of a policy is considered as the most vital phase of the policy cycle as it is at this stage that the success or failure of a policy is determined. Adopted policies are put into effect and the proposed solution will be tested in the real world with all its organizational complexity.
In late 2016, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) approved a comprehensive open licensing policy and offered a session that introduced the newly approved policy. SBCTC showcased how institutions’ open policies can be crafted, amended, and approved.
This year's session will discuss SBCTC's year-long journey in the implementation and application of this policy. The session will highlight the infrastructure that SBCTC has established to support staff implementation of open licensing policy. This support system is composed of three interrelated elements including resources, professional development, and a community of practice.
In illustrating the support model used, the session will focus on sharing practical accounts and best practices learned through the implementation process. The strategies and principles used for each implementation stage will be presented with examples and templates.
SBCTC considers this policy and implementation work as starting points for a more expansive/far reaching Open Policy that will eventually support not only the internal works but also all resources produced by fellow state government agencies. Presenters will discuss the longer-term goals of additional state agency outreach and uptake.
With little question, OER have the potential to greatly improve affordability, access, and student success in education. Yet, to achieve the greatest impact, OER need to be successfully adopted at scale with intentional planning for sustainability. In this session, the authors present a model for identifying and defining eight dimensions of sustainability in OER adoption:
open content creation
institutional program management
initial course design and course refresh
faculty development
content sustainability and development
marketing and communications
technical support
research and reporting
The model will demonstrate how to prioritize these various dimensions, how their interrelated nature impacts sustainable OER adoption, and ultimately how each dimension facilitates OER adoption at scale for the greatest long-term impact. The model draws on the empirical examples from ongoing system-level higher education OER initiatives at the City University of New York (CUNY), the State University System of New York (SUNY), and the University System of Maryland (USM) to demonstrate real-world approaches to engaging with these various dimensions of institutional OER transformation.
