Authors: Javiera Atenas, Leo Havemann, Jan Neumann, Cristina Stefanelli
Institution: Open Education Policy Hub
Countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Italy
Topic: Global Collaboration, Strategies, & Policies in Open Education
Sector: Higher Education
UNESCO Area of Focus: Developing supportive policy
Session Format: Presentation
Abstract
The Open Education Policy Hub is an OER World Map initiative which aims to support institutions and governments in the development of open education policies, to promote the adoption of open educational practices and resources. The core element of the OE Policy Hub is the OER Policy Registry, a collection of policy documents, which was originally started by Creative Commons. The hub also includes a collection of OE policymaking resources and an expert database, which supports finding regional and international partners on OE policy making. The OE Policy Hub aims to bundle the knowledge and experience developed by OE advocates in recent years. Furthermore, another element of the Policy Hub network is the OE Policy Lab, which operates as a think tank to develop and promote emergent practices in the field of OE policymaking. This presentation summarises core elements of a guide called Recommendations on the co-creation of OE policies developed by the OE Policy Lab in order to support the activities of the OE Policy Hub. We understand OE policies as regulations and strategies, which foster the development and implementation of OE practices, including the creation and use of OER, in governments, institutions and other organisations. They allocate resources and orchestrate activities in order to increase access to as well as quality, efficiency and innovation of education. In order to support the wider OE community in fostering OE policies, we have developed a set of guidelines drawn to provide advice to institutions and governments on how to co-create an OE Policy. Co-creation as a policy making technique, is grounded in the participation principles and has become quite common in the development of Open Government commitments but as yet, remains quite uncommon in the development of policies for Open Access, Open Science and Open Education.Governments willing to adopt a co-creation approach to foster policymaking, need to consider the principles of public innovation and participation to produce inclusive policies while Universities can adopt a co-creation approach to foster openness not only to benefit their own community but to embrace a sustainable development approach to ensure a wider impact of the research and resources they produce.
We contend that the adoption of this approach to foster OE policymaking can empower education communities by infusing policy with a sense of co-responsibility and shared ownership to advance an open and collaborative culture and foster a paradigm of participation in policymaking, focusing on the work of a co-creation forum to lead to a change of practices and culture at institutional and national level, reframing the roles of the involved stakeholders to achieve a high impact on the adoption of OE.
Keywords
Open Policies, Open Educational Practices, Participation, Co-Creation
