• ICT and education

ICT and education

Open educational resource (OER) initiatives encourage transparency and can stimulate more quality control and competition. Universities and colleges are encouraged to join the OER movement due to the risk involved in doing nothing when developments are so rapid. The existing copyright regime however is a serious barrier to the growth of the OER movement. Increased awareness and clear policies on copyright should be a priority on the agenda of every higher education institution. There is also a need to increase access to and the usefulness of existing resources.

Policy recommendations outlined in the study include:

• International level - Interoperability issues, including harmonisation of copyright legislation need to be solved at an international level. This requires financial and other support and funding bodies on all levels are recommended to support this work. Another issue that needs an international view is the development of a sound knowledge base on the production and use of OER.
  
• National level - Many users of OER are self-learners. From a national policy perspective, this is an opportunity to further promote lifelong learning. Using existing resources or content, which needs smaller adjustments rather than creating resources from scratch may prove to be a cost-effective way to meet some of the need for increased lifelong learning. From the national point of view, the most natural perspective might not have a particular policy regarding OER, but take a holistic approach to all kinds of digital learning resources and to all parts of the education system. Countries are encouraged to consider the idea developed by the open access movement: that academic and research output as well as the national cultural heritage made available in digital format with the use of public funds should also be available for free for education.
  
• Intermediate level - Issues at this level include setting policies and developing guidelines regarding copyright and co-ordinating work on open standards.
  
• Institutional level - Institutions prepared to embrace the opportunities offered by OER have to ask themselves what can be done to provide incentives for faculty to participate in an OER initiative. One proposed action is to make teaching portfolios or similar requirements part of the tenure process and to make the conversion of at least one course into an OER format part of the requirement to document excellence in teaching. Training should be offered to teachers and researchers on the use and production of digital learning resources and on copyright law.

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