The Future of Academic Publishing for the Good of University and Society

The recent trends in digital media and issues of access to research data, academic publications and education resources. Will sharing data, open access to peer reviewed journals and open educational resources change higher education and research? What does it take to seriously participate in these developments? What are the costs and risks, what are the benefits to students, scholars and society at large

2016 top trends in academic libraries A review of the trends and issues affecting academic libraries in higher education

Every other year, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee produces a document on top trends in higher education as they relate to academic librarianship. The 2016 Top Trends report discusses research data services, digital scholarship, collection assessment trends, content provider mergers, evidence of learning, new directions with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, altmetrics, emerging staff positions, and open educational resources

Institutional Measures for Supporting OER in Higher Education: An International Case-Based Study

Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education cannot be put into practice without considering institutional contexts, which differ not only globally but also within the same country. Each institutional context provides educators with opportunities or limitations where Open Educational Practices (OEP) and OER for teaching and learning are involved. As part of a broader research project, and as a follow-up to national perspectives, an international comparison was conducted, based on institutional cases of nine different higher education systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey). Aspects regarding the availability of infrastructure and institutional policies for OER, as well as the existence of measures directed at OER quality assurance and at the promotion of the development and use of OER were covered. The resulting theoretical contribution sheds light on an international comparative view of OER and points towards country-specific trends, as well as differences among institutions. These aspects could provide an impetus for the development of institutional guidelines and measures. In line with international literature on the topic, recommendations are derived to promote/ enhance the use of OER in teaching and learning in higher education at the institutional level.This article is part of the meso level report of work package 11 of the project “Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures – EduArc” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant #16DHB2129)

Open Educational Practices

Open educational practices (OEP) is an umbrella term that includes the creation, use, and reuse of open educational resources (OER); pedagogical practices encouraging peer learning, collaborative knowledge creation, sharing, and empowerment of learners; and systemic and structural initiatives to support and embed openness. The underlying values of OEP match those of open education more broadly, i.e. enabling educational access, ensuring inclusivity, and furthering equity. Examples of OEP include using OER, renewable/non-disposable assignments (where students publish work openly), collaborative annotation, Wikipedia editing, open courses, and engaging in open learning/teaching communities, among many others. Some people use the terms 'OEP' and 'open pedagogy' interchangeably, while others consider OEP to be a broader concept, inclusive of open pedagogy, as the latter focuses primarily on teaching practices (see Open Pedagogy). OEP can be enacted at the level of individual artifacts, modules or programs (via OER, open pedagogy, open textbooks, open learning design) as well as systemically across institutional structures (via open education policies, open publishing practices, reward/recognition structures). Recent OEP research focuses on the importance of critical and social justice approaches, reflecting wider trends in digital and higher education. Such approaches acknowledge the importance of context and power relations and encourage diverse, inclusive, and equitable approaches to openness

Open educational resources in distributed learning infrastructures: An international comparative study

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to support increased higher education access at a lower cost to rural, remote, lower-socio economic students, alongside lifelong learners and time-poor workers who require upskilling (Bossu & Meier, 2018; Orr, Rimini, & van Damme, 2015). The German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has funded the interdisciplinary project ‘Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures – EduArc’ (Learning Lab, 2019), a partnership between the University of Duisburg-Essen, the German Institute for International Educational Research, the Leibnitz Information Centre for Economics and the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, in order to explore the development of disseminated learning infrastructures and enable national access to digital education resources. In order to produce infrastructure that is aligned with international developments and trends in higher education digital transformation, nine comparative country studies have been commissioned, alongside Germany, to be undertaken by members of the Centre for Open Education Research (www.uol.de/coer), namely Spain, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, South Africa, Turkey, USA and Australia. The country studies focus on digital transformation across the macro, meso and micro levels, and focus in particular on the infrastructure for disseminating OER in higher education, including repositories and meta-data standards. The studies also focus on national, state and institutional policies; quality assurance mechanisms and key actors; and how change (in terms of funding, managing and promoting infrastructure) is promoted and occurs at all three levels. To date, the macro studies have been completed. In terms of Infrastructure, Spain, China, Japan and Korea have national repositories, including OER, although they are not commonly used in Japanese universities. Canada and USA have decentralised infrastructure, with companies retaining intellectual property rights. All governments have recommendations and funding for digital transformation, however the majority of action is left to individual states and institutions. Spain, Korea and China have national standards for digitalisation, labelling, quality and/or meta-data standards, with the onus on institutions in other countries. The next stage of this research, the meso level, is currently underway

Responding to the Initial Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of International Responses and Impact in School and Higher Education

This paper presents and analyses solutions where open education and open science were utilised to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. The COVID-19 outbreak and associated lockdowns created huge challenges in school and higher education, demanding sudden responses which aimed to sustain pedagogical quality. Responses have varied from conservative to radically innovative. Universally, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and shocked societies worldwide, and education systems were on the front line. The lockdowns largely stopped face-to-face and formal education in almost all countries, and in most cases, distance learning soon became the ‘new normal’. A central challenge concerned sustaining educational visions and ideals in such circumstances. To better understand the state of the art in the educational landscape, we collected case studies from 13 countries during the first year of the pandemic starting on 11 March 2020 (when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic). This paper presents summaries of the full country reports that were collected and describe lessons learned. Our overall aim was to identify good practices and recommendations from the collected case studies that can be taken forward in the future. We categorised the responses on the three generic educational levels (macro, meso and micro) and identified seven key aspects and trends that are valid for all or most countries: (1) formal education at a distance for first time; (2) similar approaches for formal education; (3) missing infrastructure and sharing open educational resources; (4) diverse teaching and learning methods and practices; (5) open education and access to open educational resources; (6) urgent need for professional development and training for teachers and (7) assessing and monitoring learning environments, teachers and students. Finally, we identified key recommendations on how open education and open science can benefit formal education in schools and universities in the future, namely, improved awareness of open educational practices, provision of ICT infrastructure, embracing and sustaining the practice of open access publications and OERs, capacity building for stakeholders and finally encouraging research and development in the area of open education and open science. We found significant evidence for the proposition that open education and open science can support both traditional face-to-face and distance learning

Open Educational Practices

Open educational practices (OEP) is an umbrella term that includes the creation, use, and reuse of open educational resources (OER); pedagogical practices encouraging peer learning, collaborative knowledge creation, sharing, and empowerment of learners; and systemic and structural initiatives to support and embed openness. The underlying values of OEP match those of open education more broadly, i.e. enabling educational access, ensuring inclusivity, and furthering equity. Examples of OEP include using OER, renewable/non-disposable assignments (where students publish work openly), collaborative annotation, Wikipedia editing, open courses, and engaging in open learning/teaching communities, among many others. Some people use the terms 'OEP' and 'open pedagogy' interchangeably, while others consider OEP to be a broader concept, inclusive of open pedagogy, as the latter focuses primarily on teaching practices (see Open Pedagogy). OEP can be enacted at the level of individual artifacts, modules or programs (via OER, open pedagogy, open textbooks, open learning design) as well as systemically across institutional structures (via open education policies, open publishing practices, reward/recognition structures). Recent OEP research focuses on the importance of critical and social justice approaches, reflecting wider trends in digital and higher education. Such approaches acknowledge the importance of context and power relations and encourage diverse, inclusive, and equitable approaches to openness

Open education: emerging trends and novel concepts

У статті висвітлено теоретично значуще питання для подальшого розвитку відкритої освіти. Авторами проаналізовано документи, ухвалені на міжнародному рівні. Результати аналізу дали змогу з'ясувати принципи, на яких ґрунтується розвиток ініціативи впровадження відкритої освіти. Вони відносяться до нової педагогіки, заснованої на засадах спільного створення і формування знань викладачами та учнями, поглиблення своїх навичок та розуміння необхідності їх розвитку. Виявлено, що тільки при такій взаємодії зростає переконання в тому, що кожен повинен мати свободу використовувати, налаштовувати, покращувати та перерозподіляти освітні ресурси без обмежень, прагнути до об'єднання у світовий рух доступної та ефективної освіти. Дослідження визначає основні стратегії розвитку відкритої освіти, які набирають обертів у всьому світі як важливе підґрунтя для викладання і навчання в різних країнах світу і визначають вектор руху науки про освіту. Зокрема розглядається стан розвитку цих стратегій в Україні. Акцентується увага на необхідності втілення ідеї відкритого ліцензування освітніх матеріалів, впровадження якої в практику розбудови відкритої освіти потребує розроблення низки нормативних документів на державному рівні. Виокремлено основні сучасні тренди розвитку відкритої освіти – «open education» (відкрита освіта), «open university» (відкритий університет), «distance education» (дистанційна освіта); узагальнено нові концепції: «open educational resources» (відкриті освітні ресурси), «open educational practices» (відкриті навчальні практики), «open design» (відкритий дизайн). Очікується, що отримані результати можуть бути корисними при визначені перспективних наукових напрямів дослідження розвитку відкритої освіти, оптимізації і координації досліджень з різними науковими установами, закладами вищої освіти, органами державної і регіональної влади, бізнес‐структурами тощо.The article presents a theoretically significant issue for further development of open education. The authors have analyzed the documents adopted at the international level that result in clarification of the principles underlying the open education initiative. It is a new pedagogy where educators and students co‐create, form and develop knowledge, deepen their capabilities and further their awareness as they progress. It has been found that such interaction results in strong belief that everyone should have the freedom to use, customize, improve and redistribute educational resources without any restriction with a free possibility to join a worldwide movement of accessible and effective education. The research identifies the major strategies of open education that are gaining momentum worldwide as a shaping force for teaching and learning globally. Particularly, it examines the status of these strategies adoption in Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the necessity to implement the idea of open licensing of educational materials in the practice of open education development. The analysis outlines the advanced trends in the development of open education such as «open education», «open university», «distance education» embracing such new concepts as «open educational resources», «open educational practices», «open design». The obtained results are expected to prove useful in identifying promising research areas of open education development, their optimization and coordination with academic and higher education institutions, state and regional authorities and businesses

Editorial

The EU not only provides funding, but also has launched several policy initiatives and interventions on the digitalisation of education, outlined, for instance, in “Europe 2020 Strategy,” “Digital Agenda for Europe,” “Agenda for New Skills and Jobs,” “Innovation Union,” “Opening up Education: Innovative Teaching and Learning for All through New Technologies and Open Educational Resources,” “DigComp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens,” “A European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organisations,” “A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe,” “New Skills Agenda for Europe: Working Together to strengthen Human Capital, Employability and Competitiveness,” Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, and “Strategic Framework – Education and Training 2020.” Furthermore, contests such as European Digital Skills Awards for outstanding projects contributing to digital skills development have been launched. The authors from ten countries try to consider and analyse the contemporary topics and modern trends in the fields of internationalisation of higher education, IT competence, and intercultural competences development in conditions of the digital world

Investigating the perceptions, use, and impact of open textbooks: a survey of post-secondary students in British Columbia

Unrelenting increases in the price of college textbooks have prompted the development and adoption of open textbooks, educational resources that are openly licensed and available to students free of cost. Although several studies have investigated U.S. students’ perceptions and use of open textbooks, there are no published studies of this kind in Canada. Similarly, although the negative impact of commercial textbook costs on student outcomes is well documented within the United States, it is unknown whether these trends generalize to the Canadian post-secondary context. The present study involves a survey of 320 post-secondary students in British Columbia enrolled in courses using an open textbook during the Spring 2015, Summer 2015, and Fall 2015 semesters. The survey investigates students’ textbook purchasing behaviours, including whether, where, and in what format(s) they purchase and access their required textbooks; the negative impact of textbook costs on their course enrolment, persistence, and performance; how they access and use their open textbook, including their format preferences and study habits; and their perceptions of their open textbook, including its quality and what features they like and dislike. The study’s strengths and limitations are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.Peer reviewedopen educational resources; open textbooks; textbooks; perceptions; higher education; Canad