How about a The Lord of the Rings reference today?
Javiera Atenas (@Javiera) and Leo Havemann (@leohavemann) reflect on the challenge of “protection”. Like Gollum clinging to “his precious”, many educators feel reluctant to let go of their materials. @Javiera and @leohavemann examine what drives this hesitation. While changing mindsets matters, they argue that real progress will come from structural incentives and rewards that support openness.
“My Precious”: Why Academics Guard Their Teaching Resources and Data (But Happily Share Their Articles) by Javiera Atenas and Leo Havemann
Javiera Atenas and Leo Havemann (University of Suffolk and University College London, United Kingdom) note that while teacher-researchers readily agree to share the results of their research, the same is much less true when it comes to educational outcomes. Why does this difference exist? In their analysis, they also propose solutions.
I first commend Javiera and Leo for playing out the Gollum and Ring metaphor fully. Wrapped into reason #2 Skills, Confidence, Risk is also what comes up in a future article on this series I contributed a tiny bit to – Judgement. I do not want to give away too much.
The “paper” was interesting because it was set up in a tool called PageSeeder that allowed participants at the conference and later online to vote for the questions he outlined and I believe annotate.
It’s the second reason I expand on in that coming post on judgement, but that is still in the vein the authors argue against approaches based on altruism.
I’d wonder where places are that had in place the policies and practices suggested, and what outcomes or effects those had.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills…”
Thank you, @Javiera and @leohavemann for this piece (and for fully embracing the Gollum metaphor!).
This really resonates. The distinction you draw between sharing research outputs and sharing teaching materials feels especially important. It highlights how differently value and recognition are structured across academic work, and how those structures shape what feels “safe” or worthwhile to share.
Alan (@cogdog), the points you bring in from Greg Webb’s work are striking in how persistent they remain. Fear of judgment, loss of control, and perceived inequities still surface again and again in conversations with educators across very different contexts.
What I find particularly compelling in Javiera and Leo’s framing is the shift away from relying on individual motivation or altruism, and toward examining the systems that enable (or discourage) sharing. It raises an important question about alignment: if openness is valued in principle, how is it reflected (or not) in incentives, recognition, and institutional culture?
I’m also really interested in your question about examples where these kinds of policies and practices are in place, and what difference they make in practice. It would be valuable to surface cases where structural support has meaningfully shifted behaviors, not just expectations.
This connects strongly with other themes in the series and reinforces how much of this challenge is not about willingness to share, but about the conditions that make sharing feel possible.
Apologies for only responding now, I was rather distracted as I had my PhD viva (defence) coming up (I passed!!). Glad our post was of interest. Once I have completed my thesis corrections I look forward to sharing findings from my research in more detail, but a big headline is that, in HE institutions, OEP is not well understood, tends not to be well supported, and reward and recognition is also therefore lacking. These results confirm that it is vital that we think about how this kind of work can factor into people’s careers.