Coep/2019 symposium

2019 Symposium proceedings

A better world through open education, the inaugural symposium of the Centre for Open Education Practice, was hosted by Otago Polytechic in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 5th - 6th December 2019.

The symposium's theme was social justice and open education. The programme covered a wide range of topics through keynote addresses, presentations and workshops. The symposium closed with a Planning Sprint, where participants brainstormed ideas for progressing mainstream adoption of open education practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was the first stage of COEP's initiative to develop a transparent and collaborative planning process for Aotearoa New Zealand in response to the 2109 UNESCO Recommendation for OER.

Notes from the sessions, and links to slides and video recordings where available, are presented below. The notes were taken by a different 'scribe' for each session, so reflect the notetaker's individual perspective.

(This page is displayed in an 'accordion' format. To view the content for each speaker, click on the small down arrow on the right-hand side of the page next to the speaker's name.)

DAY 1 - 5th December 2019

Welcome and keynote presentations

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Ron Bull (Otago Polytechnic) and Wayne Mackintosh (OER Foundation)
Video A better world through open education - Opening remarks for the 2019 COEP national symposium

Keynote: Creating a Course Towards Open Innovation

David Porter (eCampusOntario)

Video Presentation slides (pdf) Principles underlying open education Diversity of students Access to resources and knowledge is driver to providing better and more affordable access globally Empowering faculties Massive cost savings Resources equal or better Zero textbook costs Supporting structures to build a path to open practice Sharing is fundamental Collaboration is a good thing Working together builds community Simple ways to grant copyright Open education resources and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers Resources, infrastructure and human networks Online open library of resources Localised resources $7.5 million in costs saved to students Open source software to customise resources to suit own needs A collegial approach to exploring emerging practice (open pedagogy) Project files Learning activities Assessment Presentations Open resource sprints (2-3 days to draft a textbook) Anatomy of an empowered educator Fellowship of scholarship and academic pursuits OER policy drives us forward Guidelines on development of OER policies

Keynote: Open Textbooks - What’s Stopping Us and Why We Need Them

Cheryl Brown (University of Canterbury)

Video What are textbooks? How do they fit into OER? What are the values? Open can be different things Costs are increasing and excessive to students Students will seek alternative resources Findings show of university students in first year, 82% required to purchase texts, average cost $184-$384 Most students don’t buy textbooks and seek other resources Various reasons for not using library Inconvenient times Limited and short loan terms Cannot write on borrowed items OER Students don’t know what they are Students that do know, aren’t using them Buying texts causes stress, anxiety, hardship, poverty Students finding some texts were not used by lecturers Some students found texts were not relevant to assessment Lecturers can find alternate sources of information and communicate it to their colleagues Are textbooks still relevant?

Morning parallel sessions

Student Views on Textbook Costs

Sarah Stein, Simon Hart, Philippa Keaney and Richard White (University of Otago)

Video Key focus: student experience Inter-institutional collaborative multi-focused Licensing and technical barriers Reliance on textbooks Access for distance students Lived experience for learners (lack of access / cost) Developing a tool to meet student needs Winder philosophy / context Meeting needs (diverse students) Improving access Collaboration is key Knowledge: ‘A fire to be kindled’ Process: Methods Is the cost of (access to) textbooks having an effect on student study choice / behaviour? Approach Student voice Survey: statistical data / free comment data (based on Senack, 2014 and Senack and Donaghue, 2016) Student focus groups Sample: ‘class reps’ - nominated link between cohort and teachers (238 respondents) Analysis Stats and descriptive analysis Coding of comments Focus Affordability Access Perceptions Behaviour Attitudes Results 53% never spent money on textbooks Lack of access affected academically - 49% ‘I can’t afford the textbook or justify expense if only used for first semester’ Expensive Restrictive library access Preference to study at home Lecturers are not using them Dissemination of study OU academics, Student Association, Critic, vice chancellor etc. Online, social media, AOASG, CALT, workshop, podcast, Open Praxis (DOI: 10.9544 openpraxis.9.4.704), Expanding Horizon Data Figshare: goo.gl/XDMIKW bit.ly/studentsandtextbooks How to get out of these practices / pedagogy ‘not working’ What is a ‘textbook’? How does it function? Being ‘open’ - alternatives to ‘textbook’ Are they relevant? Baseline Teachers perspective - as soon as there is a barrier (there is a problem)

Open as a Mindset

Ray O’Brien and Sam Mann (Otago Polytechnic)

Video ‘Open’ through leadership for change Beyond open resources Self-determination Auto-ethnography (action research) Open graduate profile Framework for practice Define own space in the world Open structures How do we get there? Who are we designing learning for? Personas Three rounds of consultation What do they like? What don’t they like? Testing structure Me and emerging capabilities Curated experiences Skills projects ‘Making a Difference’ placement ‘Making a Difference’ project Framework of practice Exit strategy - OPEN Open to: Stages and rates of learning Ways of knowing Exit strategy Learner aspirations What the future might hold

Confessions of an Open Access Journal Editor

Alison Fields (Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning)

Video Confessions: Alison works for two journals - open access and commercial Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (JOFDL) Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association (JALIA) Comparisons between the two journals Everything exists together - commercial publishing houses are adapting as are OA journals Commercial publishing - providing more OA content OA journals - need to find ways to provide access to content by joining libraries Similarities Peer reviewed by academics Flagship journals of professional associations Fully paid professional copy editor service International advising board Clearly identified target market Reliant on low paid or unpaid editorial expertise Differences Visibility Access Value Quality Costs Value of access Where can you see the article? Journal, repository, library, internet, somewhere else? Mesh of online and commercial content JOFDL access points EBSCO Host - online PAID repository (pay subscription to access) with 5% royalties to access ERIC - commercial publisher Universities pay EBSCO Host huge costs Value and quality Peer reviewed by professionals Numbers of readers Numbers of citations - no difference in numbers (access affects this) Visibility of content Quota of articles in commercial areas means quality could be lower or higher depending on need OA journal only publishes the good content - not restricted by number or quota Cost Paid journal needs to sit behind paywall - couple of articles per journal made OA (author can pay costs if wants it open) OA - copy editor is paid by professional association and there are no other costs CONZUL in NZ 59% closed access 41% open As of June 2019 What journals should we read? Considerations Visibility for who? Access for who? Quality important? Cost important? Costs 2,000GBP or $3,000US to get article published (if author chooses to pay so article OA)

Maori Data Sovereignty and Open Source

Chris Cormack (Catalyst)

Video Te Mana Raraunga Network of people advocating for Maori rights and interests in data Collective and individual wellbeing Shifting thinking about how Maori data is used By Maori for Maori Data sovereignty When an organisation’s data is stored out of country How is it shared and protected? Concern: Iwi store whakapapa info in offshore data stores. What are the risks? 6 principles of Maori data sovereignty Rangatiratanga - authority Whakapapa - relationships Whanaungatanga - obligations Kotahitanga - collective benefit Manaakitanga - reciprocity Kaitiakitanga - guardianship Open source software Focus on what open source software allows you to do You can’t exert data sovereignty without control of the means of production Similarity between tikanga of a marae hui and open source movement Proprietary software gives control to a few people who have control of the software How to combine kaupapa Maori approach with rush into digital / data-driven world? Kaupapa Maori is always mindful of context Put data in context, not isolated data points Understand the whakapapa of the data Be attentive to history Will make all data science better Open data: power-based analysis The people with the most power have the highest obligation to be open Comment section Data and tech world not yet de-colonised - only at very early stages At present, just trying to minimise harm Always raise questions about how Maori data sovereignty is affected by developments in data science and data use

The Future of Academic Journals

Sam Mann and Ray O’Brien (Otago Polytechnic)

Video Presentation slides (pdf) Now: hospitals and tertiary institutions pay money to publishing houses Inspiration Transformational mindset Sustainability models New rules Speculative futuring BL4C Future? Old Silo Paywall Ownership Privileged trust Defining Print Established EGOcentric Literature Sub / discipline New Network Free Openness Equitable trust Generating Online Diverse ECOcentric Context Post / trans discipline

OERu’s Delivery Model for Changing Times: An Open Source NGDLE

Claire Goode (Otago Polytechnic) and Dave Lane (OER Foundation)

Video The network International consortium of 30+ institutions globally First year post-secondary courses - assembled through OER Online service - NGDLE (Next Generation Digital Learning Environment) ‘Radically open organisation’, i.e. walk the talk Reason: institutions LMS focus on the learner Support learner Best way to use technology? Builds digital fluency Less constrained Learners control their learning Shared knowledge Adapt to change Navigate / self directed Save money (no textbooks) Dynamic materials / different devices Pedagogical opportunities for teachers Adapt, modify, develop resources Open content and resources Collaboration Student-led content Understand open licences Builds capability ‘Ecosystem’ ensures robust review SDGs for quality education Learner-facing ‘tech wheel’ Discourse - discussion forums Mastodon - social media Blogs - Wordpress, Medium, Blogger Course comments - WENotes: Wiki Educator Notes Annotation - hypothes.is Semantic scuttle - social bookmarks Scalable Pioneering MVP phase - May 2018 to May 2019 2,000+ registered learners from 113 countries 20,000 unregistered learners participate anonymously Each individual component tested at ‘internet scale’ Diverse technologies used: i.e. Wordpress, Rocket.chat, Couch.db etc. Benefits Diversity (avoid monoculture) Ecosystem is diverse Don’t rely on third party / no contracts Uses ‘Docker’ - manages ‘FOSS’ complexity Costs? Fixed cost for infrastructure less than $4k per year, plus one full-time IT staff member Per learner $0 variable cost ROI: invest in strategic software and sharing of information / costs More info OERu.org Tech blog: tech.oeru.org oer.nz/coep19ngdle FOSS code: [1]

Afternoon plenary sessions

Get Your Copyright Game On!

Mandy Henk (Tohatoha)
In this lively session participants learnt about Creative Commons licences through Tohatoha's card game.

Keynote: Social Justice Matters - A Reflection on the Promise and Possibility of Tertiary Education

Oonagh McGirr (Otago Polytechnic)

Video Presentation slides (pdf) Why are we doing this? Social justice education for a truly open world Equitable and quality education for all Equal participation without borders or barriers For a more sustainable world (SDGs #10 and #17) Context for good Widen access Embed sustainability Enact the experiential Democratise knowledge Promote collaboration Enable the learner-centred Distribution of benefits and burdens Provision to be equal despite: constantly competing demands (agility and sustainability) and rising costs A knowledge economy or a learning society? Aotearoa - a case study UNESCO and KDE chairs in OER OERu OER Symposium Open Education Foundation Centre for Open Education Practice Collective or individual What will you do on Monday? Explore what others are doing Talk to presidents / vice chancellors Embrace open pedagogy Revisit programmes Donate resources Spread the word Lobby publishers Find alternatives to Zoom Leaders do the right thing…

Afternoon parallel sessions

Sustainable RoVE Futures

Wayne Mackintosh (OER Foundation===

[Video not available] Thought experiment for open education futures in NZ What is the potential for OE solutions in RoVE? Three main things government can do Eliminate duplication - mandate that all education materials funded by the education system are openly shared Reduce student debt - tuition and assessment is the only funded model Establish a CoVE in OE $30 million saving if all educational resources were openly licensed More affordable education More equitable - extends access to international students and widens access to learners who can’t afford education is current model Reduction in student debt - 65% savings in terms of student fees Presented this to MoE as proposal - have received letter in response, but no commitment Question re: using the CoVE as an entry point Response that was yes. This is a promising avenue. However, in our response to RoVE, this requires collaboration and that is something that people in tertiary education are not accustomed to doing - no systems in place. In contrast, people working in the open education space are very accustomed to collaborating

Ako and Open Education Practices: What We Share, Who With and Why

Ron Bull (Otago Polytechnic)

[Video not available] Ever evolving circle of knowledge creation We think about: Open source Open access But it can also include openness to interpretation "Ako" is commonly linked to concepts such as Reciprocity Power sharing Learner and instructor bring knowledge But from Iwi-Maori perspective, "ako" is a quasi-traditional knowledge transfer system First tenet It is a privilege Learner-teacher relationships (aligning a learner deserving of knowledge with the teacher sanctioned to give knowledge) Both are identified Second tenet Informed by place Ako within context (place of knowledge transfer) Place is known implicitly and knowledge was transferred by older generations within context Knowledge and practice at the same time Third tenet Small part of bigger context Context informed content Understanding the knowledge we have and the place it comes from is only a small part of the story Fourth tenet Knowledge is not a commodity Give knowledge with the purpose of knowledge growth Ever evolving cycles of knowledge creation Maintain discourse and epistemologies behind the knowledge

Open Knowledge and Open Educational Platforms

Paul Stevens (Catalyst)

Video Nine years experience at Catalyst What is ‘open knowledge’? Reuse, use, redistribute, open data, open source How can we bring open-source platforms together to provide a better solution? OER should be run on open source platforms Challenge provided by for-profit IT companies working under business models that are disruptive, controlling, make profit Vendor lock in - loss of control of data leads to potentially using data for financial gain Contrary to education models, which wish to nurture, grow and share Lots of good open source platforms - if you’re not using them, why not? Case studies NGOs agora.unicef.org platform shared with MSF, HLA Academy and Save the Children during the ebola outbreak DHBs Moodle and Totara - duplication of courses previously, e.g. 21 courses for washing hands Sharing of resources has saved huge amount of time and money Q: What can we do to convince the government to move to open source platforms? A: 2-pronged approach Ground-level up, passionate people ‘got things in by stealth’ Lobbying government, collectively using our networks Q: What sort of support can cloud-based companies such as Catalyst provide / upskill people such as OT students? A: Can we put a system in place that doesn’t bind us to a company, e.g. Amazon / Google / Microsoft? Can we teach skills / processes in a cloud-agnostic way?

It’s a Small World After All: The OER’s Implementation of Micro Courses and Credentialling

Claire Goode and Simonne Wood (Otago Polytechnic)

Video Presentation slides (pdf) Goal of OERu is to widen access to education by Offering first-year university education to learners internationally Don’t even need to register to access these free resources Needed to develop ways to recognise learning by credit transfer in different countries around the world OERu solution: modular micro-courses of 40 learning hours each - three courses in North America and four in Australia Micro courses and micro credentials piloted in Africa and European MOOC association etc. Work of OERu on micro credentials is particularly timely EduBits: reflect specific experience and capabilities of individuals, regardless of how you have obtained this, e.g. electric vehicle battery diagnosis - an unregulated industry in NZ; trying to ‘get ahead of the game’ Process: assessments written to align with learning outcomes and checked by independent moderators Transfer credit can be issued for full courses Reward: digital badge or certificate Case study: LiDA - shows alternative pathways via Thomas Edison (USA) of Uni of Highlands and Islands / OP / Thomson River (Canada) A sustainable parallel learning universe for all. A reminder that this is about creating options and solutions for our learners Q: Are micro credentials linked to programmes, or are some not associated with courses? Does an EduBit need to be ‘pinned to a degree canvas’? A: No, they are stand-alone and cane be done isolation. They will be recognised as such by an employer.

Hacking a Textbook… in a Weekend

Richard White (University of Otago)

Video bit.ly/hackingatextbook Ground up initiative at end of 2013 - took about six months and 20 people Simplified process of the development cycle of ‘hacking a textbook’ Inspired by and article so decided to do the same (Media Studies 101) Collaborated with Erica, who wanted to design a better book More appropriate to the NZ context More modular Who was interested? Academics and librarians Got some funding (C.C.) and a project manager Signed an memorandum of understanding between participants Got tech side sorted out Google Docs/ Hangouts (development) Wordpress (published) Concurrently compared curricula and drew up chapters HACK! Debating what a book is Take aways: fun, great sense of achievement Post hack: tidy ups, editing Released Picked up by BC campus, a Canadian OpenEd resource Widely used, especially in Canada - over 100,000 hits in 2017 https://mediatexthack.wordpress.com/ Reflection: not PBRF-able as not peer-reviewed https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/texthack/ Any recognition from University of Otago? No Has it been updated? No, but it’s probably due for a review

Open Education and training in the travel and tourism industry

Hilary Jenkins (Otago Polytechnic)

[Video not available] Wiki Educator as a platform Declining numbers in 2007 meant change was needed Applied for funding support Concepts Social situation with access to online Develop resources and networks internationally Collaboration and sharing Sustainability Integrating use of Wiki Educator through development of new programmes Wiki Educator allows for all L3, L4 and L5 programmes to be on one page Wiki includes lesson plans, resources, research that are completely open for use 2015/16 - TROQ - D4LS - Moodle as closed platform - still use open resources - in the future use open resources for EduBits and high schools

"Will that be on the wiki?"

Kim Thomas (Otago Polytechnic)
[Video not available] Introduced to Wiki Educator in 2007 Developed short course which was integrated into horticulture course (permaculture) Lessons plans on Wiki Educator Permaculture aligns with Wiki - care for the earth, care for people and fair share|-

First Day Closing remarks

Oonagh McGirr (Otago Polytechnic)
Video

DAY 2 - 6th December 2019

Workshop

Practical Ways to Promote Academic Engagement in OER

Wayne Mackintosh (OER Foundation)

[Video not available] Small and concrete ways to engage in open education Why did you come? Practical applications, especially health sciences RoVE: OER good opportunity for NZST Potential badges for teaching competence, like EduBits Competency framework Take stock of what resources are open and available for collaboration Observe: report back to team Copyright / open access linked Transformative agreement in publishing Can prohibit some from publishing Working on open access policy Cost of publishing vs. open access Access to resource for people outside of university environment limited Completely new to OER Writing EduBits Out of primary school leadership to tertiary context Access to publicly funded research in health research Should be clear info pipeline from researchers to health workers Differentiate between info that is not accessible and accessible to joe public OER not thriving at Otago Uni Policy vs. practice Research focused not so much in teaching areas Income stream Reward / incentive structure of uni Success in Canada investing in open textbooks Discussion about income generated from research Some subjects generate more money than others Would be valuable area for some research but possibly difficult to get responses Proportion of total income provided by government should represent level of open access Marketing aspect - zero cost textbooks Difficult to engage with student associations RoVE: Opportunity for OER? Yes Connection between professionals in practice and the teaching of discipline Small off shore campus of Uni of California (Channel Islands - Cal State Uni) has gone entirely OER Understanding of difference between ‘open’ and ‘online’ Otago Poly incorporating OER courses into formal programmes Still get government funding Te reo uptake in Australia How do we ensure data is clean? Sustainability Lack of transparency in IT sector - a lot of mistrust