Institutional Policy #openls 2014

#openls | Portland OR 4-‐6 Jun 2014

OPEN EDUCATION leadership summit

2014

Ins:tu:onal Policy Workshop Presenta:on Group Leader: Daniel DeMarte Group Facilitator: Julie Cur:s (@juliekcur:s)


Summary of Issues

●  Vision ●  Purpose ●  Barriers ●  Give shape to faculty about rules for engaging in OER ●  OER as solu:on for military students ●  Legal counsel -‐ when do we need legal review ●  Ownership/licensing ●  Strategy ●  What can be addressed by policy? (and what can’t?) ●  Intersec:on of culture and policy ●  Ecosystem


What Said We Would Focus On

Assump9on: There are different states or categories of ac:vity associated with OER, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish as an organiza:on: ●  Adapt ●  Adopt ●  Build Capture: What policy and culture-‐related issues, challenges, opportuni:es, piâlls, experiences apply to each state of OER ac:vity? Summit Output: Framework of policy issues and what to pay aèn:on to at each state and reference materials Eventual Goal: Build out this framework with addi:onal reference materials, case studies, etc.


What Actually Happened

Different types of ins:tu:ons Different levels of OER ac:vity Different organiza:onal goals

+ Different organiza:onal cultures

No One-‐Size-‐Fits-‐All Policy Discussion


Revised Approach

●  Capture issues, insights, experiences around hot buòn areas of OER-‐related policy and prac:ce

●  Build out a statement of principles about the role of OER in higher educa:on o  Elaborate on Daniel’s “Purposes of OER” material


Policy Areas

•  Defining vision & purpose •  Defining desired outcomes •  Securing stakeholder support •  Crea:ng a policy ecosystem to support open •  Incorpora:ng OER into exis:ng policy / process •  Cultural shig to encourage recep:vity •  Faculty professional development •  Intellectual property / copyright •  Quality assurance •  The dance of policy and culture


Purpose Statement for OER Advocacy

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See Google Doc: Purpose Statement for OER


Proposed Work Products & Resources

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Concept Descrip:on

Open Policy Case Study “Toolkit” Compile useful set of case studies about various dimensions of OER policy. Highlight What worked? What didn’t? Why not.

Intellectual Property Policy Handbook

Have boilerplate language at my disposal: 1) both par:es have non-‐exclusive; 2) both par:es have non-‐exclusive and faculty member can put a CC license. Handbook for if/then approaches. Add examples and principles each one inflected.

Policy Framework / Guide Develop framework of issues for thinking about policy regarding Open. Iden:fy available resources to guide and inform policy work, and compile them into a policy guide.

OER Statement of Purpose “Touchstone” resource for developing vision, policy, advocacy efforts, etc.


Next Steps

●  Con9nue discussion about policy: Define key issues, opportuni:es to con:nue dialogue and collabora:on

●  Collabora9ve ini9a9ve: Military-‐serving ins:tu:ons & DOD restric:ons on spending federal $ on textbooks o  Interested: SPARC, Crea:ve Commons, Pierce College,

UMD, Tidewater, others

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Discussion + Q&A

●  Comments? ●  Ques:ons? ●  What did we miss? ●  What would you add? ●  Direc:ons for further explora:on?

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POLICY AREA Defining Vision & Purpose

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights: ●  Essen:al star:ng point: Define what are you trying to do and let this dictate vision and

purpose. ●  Students will always care most about reducing textbook cost. ●  Don’t let current business model dictate what approach you take to innova:on and OER.

Old business model (like bookstore) shouldn’t hold this up Examples of What Works: ●  Cerritos College & Mercy College: Use a three step process in defining purpose and

evangelizing ac:vity: 1) emphasize reducing textbook cost; 2) OER as a solu:on; 3) academic innova:on made possible with OER

●  Washington SBCTC: Galvanize ac:on with a visionary leader (Cable Green) to establish a common vision across administra:on for everyone to align around

●  Tidewater: Ini:al white paper to govern approach


POLICY AREA Defining Desired Outcomes

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights ●  Important to set goals and measure results from OER. ●  OER should support the ins:tu:onal mission, goals and metrics you already care about.

Examples of What Works ●  Tidewater: How to think about ini:al policy framework to support OER ini:a:ves:

○  Stage 1)Is this possible and how do we prove the concept? What policy is needed to support and protect faculty and the ins:tu:on? Once you prove the concept, move to

○  Stage 2) How do we ins:tu:onalize it and what policies are needed to make it ins:tu:onal?

○  Acknowledge con:nuous improvement process from the beginning. ●  Crea9ve Commons: Ar:culate the metrics and outcomes you care about, and then define

an OER vision and approach to align with what you already measure and care about.


POLICY AREA Securing Stakeholder Support

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Discussion Output

Challenges ●  How do we navigate the path between fostering grassroots support vs. admin/execu:ve support?

Where to start? ●  Who do you start with? Willing faculty vs. execu:ve champion?

Lessons & Insights ●  Ins:tu:onal Commitment: Someone at the budget level needs to put resources in support of OER

(grants, general budget, etc.) Without budget it won’t progress. ●  Case studies are helpful to educate about what’s possible. ●  Sample policies are helpful to inform process of hammering out your own path. ●  Funding for OER alone doesn’t offer sustainability. You also have to create commitment to what comes

ager funding is gone. ●  Gain ini:al trac:on trac:on by talking about reducing textbook costs first, not OER for the sake of OER ●  It needs a spark to get started. Eventually you need stakeholders around the table who can represent

their colleagues and bring everyone along, including budget alignment. Coordinate and bring together pockets of innova:on.

●  Faculty have a big fear factor about open, puung courses out for others to cri:que, etc. Training and professional development help them overcome the fear and resistance.


POLICY AREA Securing Stakeholder Support

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Discussion Output

Examples of What Works ●  VCCS: Start ini:a:ves with leèr of support from dean / dept to give faculty “coverage” and support ●  Washington SBCTC: Don’t treat OER as just a one-‐off project that isn’t sustainable. Treat it as core to

what you’re about. It becomes simply part of how the organiza:on operates, and needs to be funded accordingly: OER is the tool of the day.


POLICY AREA Crea9ng a Policy Ecosystem in Support of Open

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights ●  It isn’t just about “open” policy. It’s about how all policy can support “open” effec:vely. ●  Apply policy appropriate to the stage of “product development”

○  Early stage: Can this be done? Ini:al experimenta:on and policy to encourage innova:on ○  Later stage: Ins:tu:onalize success. Steep adop:on and policy for effec:ve management and

coordina:on ●  Think hard about carrots vs. s:cks. Carrots are much much easier. S:cks cause fights. ●  Treat OER as core to what you’re about, not just a one-‐off project. Sustain it because it is core to what

you are. ●  Look at policies on adjacent programs that can support OER, and how to create alignment. ●  Apply the same policies across the board, not just to open. ●  Level/type of adop:on will help determine appropriate “policy” pathway: policy around what Open will

require of stakeholders. ●  Need to work carefully through: Does “ins:tu:onal policy” mean the system? the campus?

departments? faculty? How do these levels of policy align and scale? ●  Policy needs to create a suppor:ve environment and remove obstacles: awareness-‐building, training,

professional development, etc. ●  Help students understand clear differences between “open” and “plagiarism”


POLICY AREA Crea9ng a Policy Ecosystem in Support of Open

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Discussion Output

Examples of What Works ●  Crea9ve Commons: Use voluntary measures like discre:onary money or release :me to create

voluntary incen:ves associated with open and simultaneously eliminate concerns about academic freedom.

●  Washington SBCTC: Write OER support into RFPs for learning tools. (See SBCTC technology strategic plan); Faculty learning community / innova:on grants :ed to OER one year.

●  Washington SBCTC / Open Library: Establish mul:ple quality “shields” around open content -‐ 501k accessibility, Quality Maèrs, etc. Use OER to model quality for all courses.


POLICY AREA Incorpora9ng OER into Exis9ng Policy/Prac9ce

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights ●  Policies don’t operate in a vacuum. They need to work on top of the rest of the fragile policy structure. ●  How can you adjust a variety of exis:ng policies to support and remove barriers to Open?

○  Intellectual Property policy ○  Promo:on and tenure policy

Examples of What Works ●  Washington SBCTC: Align peripheral policies and prac:ces around support of OER: how can we support

OER with how we spend various pots of money? ●  Crea9ve Commons: OER carries addi:onal weight in promo:on/tenure considera:on (:ed to

affordability, publica:on record, etc.)


POLICY AREA Cultural ShiT to Encourage Recep9vity

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights ●  Frame discussion around how OER benefits faculty. “Federal funding is :ed increasingly to open

licensing. I want to help you respond successfully to this changing environment.” Examples of What Works ●  Tidewater: Academic freedom as a “carrot” for faculty associated with OER. Offer OER as a tool or

op:on to have much more academic freedom. Conversa:on is about lots of available resources, in addi:on to cost savings.

●  Cerritos: Evangelize cost savings benefits of OER to galvanize student demand; use this to create momentum in other parts of organiza:on.

●  Washington SBCTC: Using a faculty professional development course about OER; training opens their eyes and how it can improve their teaching prac:ce. This has become a powerful tool to shig culture and build awareness.

●  Martha Kanter, Chancellor at Foothill-‐De Anza Community College: Applied a variety of Carrot-‐type policies, not s:cks


POLICY AREA Faculty Professional Development

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Discussion Output

Lessons & Insights ●  Help faculty understand how tradi:onal publishers are trying to reduce access to knowledge in an age

when knowledge is abundant. Examples of What Works ●  Washington SBCTC: Set policy around training/professional development. Offer a professional

development course about OER; training can open their eyes and how it can improve their teaching prac:ce. This has become a powerful tool to shig culture and build awareness.

●  Crea9ve Commons: Talk to faculty about how if their library stops subscribing to a journal where they publish, they are no longer en:tled to use their own ar:cles with their students


POLICY AREA Intellectual Property / Copyright

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Discussion Output

Challenges ●  Are ins:tu:ons going to get more possessive as “courseware” represents value? Get more concerned

about giving up any rights? ●  Is OER more like journal ar:cles or more like textbooks? How do ins:tu:ons dis:nguish between these

items? Does the fact that ins:tu:ons don’t enforce IP with textbooks create an opening for how to deal with OER IP? Courseware, course notes, etc. are more ambiguous.

●  Faculty fear that ins:tu:on will fire them and hire adjuncts using their course materials Lessons & Insights ●  For many people, this is not clear. Every ins:tu:on should be transparent about this: Who owns what

when someone is crea:ng content. There is a legal answer and a cultural answer, not always the same. ●  Intellectual Property policies become an opportunity for union/labor/working environment discussions.

People have to feel the “carrot” isn’t in some other trap related to IP. ●  It is in the interests of faculty to address intellectual proper:es clearly and transparently.



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Discussion Output

Desired Outcomes ●  How to help faculty move ahead with OER, without fear ●  Don’t believe it’s do-‐about to redefine IP. ●  Would like to see addendum: Colleges s:ll own work, but allow faculty to openly license with colleges

as the copyright holder. College acknowledge as copyright holder, but give freedom to faculty to openly license the work.

●  Define copyright to allow holders to reuse content ●  Put system in place where faculty can request open licensing.

Ac9ons We Can Take to Help Resolve Issues ●  When contracts are up for renewal, make amendments to contract. ●  Develop a handbook: Have boilerplate language at my disposal: 1) both par:es have non-‐exclusive; 2)

both par:es have non-‐exclusive and faculty member can put a CC license. Handbook for if/then approaches. Add exaamples and principles each one inflected.



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Discussion Output

Examples of What Works ●  Crea9ve Commons: Amend employment contract so college and faculty have nonexclusive rights over

copyright. ●  VCCS: Shared, non-‐exclusive copyright is the spirit of VCCS copyright approach. Reference:

h`p://cdn.vccs.edu/wp-‐content/uploads/2013/07/sec12.pdf ●  Utah K12 System: Adjust copyright to be more open-‐friendly. Allow open license/sharing on instructors’

work and require they submit content for review before sharing. ●  Athabasca University: In separate discussions, the university claimed to own faculty works but faculty

claimed they owned their own works. When legal contract revealed university as copyright holder, faculty became very suppor:ve of open licensing and the university became more concerned. This is leading to produc:ve discussion and movement.


POLICY AREA Quality Assurance

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Discussion Output

Lessons and Insights ●  “Open” alone is not a stamp of quality. ●  Textbook publisher’s name alone is not a stamp of quality.

Examples of What Works ●  Crea9ve Commons / Washington SBCTC: Apply consistent policies around course/content quality to

open and proprietary materials. Example: Invest in mul:ple quality “shields” around open content -‐ 501k accessibility, Quality Maèrs, etc. Use OER to model quality for all courses.


POLICY AREA Dance of Policy and Culture

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Discussion Output

Lessons and Insights ●  Policy may not be needed urgently at the earliest adop:on stage when instead it’s important to seed

innova:on. ●  As things progress, policy signals support and endorsement: OER is a priority. ●  Policy is needed to to help ins:tu:onalize and coordinate the innova:ons you want to build successfully

into how you operate. ●  At any stage, adop:on and use of OER depends on making it “safe” culturally ●  When policy clashes with culture, usually policy isn’t enforced or followed. Solu:on: create different

incen:ves to comply with policy. ●  In early stages, you’re trying to change culture.

○  What structure is helpful at beginning stage -‐ what is commitment? What is the purpose? ○  If you ins:tu:onalize it too soon, you miss out on some of the posi:ve “messiness” of innova:on ○  You won’t know what supports the culture un:l you see some of that innova:on in ac:on


POLICY AREA Dance of Policy and Culture

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Discussion Output

Examples of What Works ●  NIH open access policy: All publica:ons must be publicly available within 12 months of publica:on. NIH

published note saying they take it seriously and likelihood of geung addi:onal grants diminishes if you don’t comply. Within days, compliance went from 35% to 75%.

Education

Institutional Policy #openls 2014