[Oer-community] educational policy and OER

Sat Oct 9 02:10:31 MDT 2010

Hi Sabya

The various freemium and subsidy-based business models do offer  
publishers alternatives however if one takes OER to a logical  
conclusion for education policymakers, encouraging open textbooks (and  
indeed workbooks) would probably have the greatest impact. In K12,  
publishers source authors from the teaching profession, the curriculum  
is proscribed and doesn't change much (unlike academic publishing). If  
a Ministry wants to make a significant impact and push cost out of its  
system, open text books make a lot of sense - they need subsidise the  
initial book development and then the OERs should incrementally evolve  
with the right community activation strategy (which in itself is  
worthy of debate and research). International communities can take  
these OERs and adapt for their language, culture or pedagogic  
considerations.

However as praiseworthy a strategy that is from an education  
perspective, from a publishing and print industry it would be a  
significant transformation to deal with. If the inputs in to the  
product are the same i.e. curriculum and teachers and the print  
element is disposed of (due to digital distribution or on-demand  
printing etc), then the value the publisher adds is bundled up in to  
the editorial management and marketing (see community activation and  
adoption) processes. An OER Textbook project driven by a Dept of  
Education can mandate adoption thus leaving publishers with editorial  
management....

Physical books are a good technology in that we understand how they  
work, how the navigation works etc. Unfortunately they are heavy,  
resource intensive, not very green and don't allow for regular  
updating. Their place in higher education is increasingly in decline  
as journal databases, amongst other technologies take over, and they  
have even less justification in K12.

Of course, this depends on the timeframe we are seeking change within.

Rgds

Theo

________________
Dr. Theo Lynn
Director, Industry Engagement, DCU Business School
Director, DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre

Address: DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Glasnevin,  
Dublin 9,
Ireland
Telephone: +353-1-7006873
Mobile: +353-87-2261723
E-mail: theo.lynn at dcu.ie
Skype: theoatomic
Twitter: @theolynn | @dculink | @defictionalised
Blog: http://theolynn.wordpress.com
Website: www.link.dcu.ie

On 9 Oct 2010, at 03:22, Sabyasachi Bose wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Theo I think you have made a great point. I do think enterprise  
> policies can co-exist with OER. In fact I believe they can go hand  
> in hand.
>
> In case of publishing irrespective of growth of OERs, books will  
> still have value. I doubt there will be day where universities can  
> function without books and other reference materials. If a publisher  
> allows OER to publish selective materials from the book and in turn  
> OER mentions the publisher/book on website. Assuming content is  
> valuable, students or self learners would definitely like to buy the  
> book for rest of the contents. In this process OER was able to  
> publish more material than earlier and publisher benefits from  
> increased sales.
>
> There has been many discussion over sustainability of OER. If we can  
> find similar models that builds a mutualistic relationship between  
> enterprises and OER/OCW, we can have unprecedented growth.
>
> Are there any other areas in OER where enterprise can add value?
>
> Regards
> Sabya
>
> From: oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca [mailto:oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca 
> ] On Behalf Of Theo Lynn
> Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 5:20 PM
> To: Mary Lou Forward
> Cc: oer-community at athabascau.ca
> Subject: Re: [Oer-community] educational policy and OER
>
> I am not sure I can...easily at least!
>
> OERs displace something from an enterprise policy and therefore the  
> wealth/employment displaced needs to be replaced and ideally  
> increased somehow - it's analogous to whether public transport and  
> private transport firms can coexist....obviously they can
>
> With open source software, the value transferred from product  
> economics to customer economics....maybe that is the argument. To  
> get publishers to embrace OERs they need to create/add value  
> somewhere at the customer interface....maybe they manage versioning,  
> rating, license infringement etc
>
> _____________
> Dr. Theo Lynn
> Director, DCU LINK Research Centre
> Dublin City University
>
> t: +35317006873
> e: theo.Lynn at dcu.ie
>
>
> On 8 Oct 2010, at 20:32, Mary Lou Forward  
> <mlforward at ocwconsortium.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Theo.
>
> Absolutely.  Open presents interesting opportunities for such  
> alignments.  Publishing is a great example.  How do you see broader  
> commercial policy fitting in with OER?
>
> Mary Lou
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 3:03 PM, Theo Lynn <theo.lynn at dcu.ie> wrote:
> Mary Lou
>
> A related theme is how educational policy (which targets educational  
> institutions etc) and enterprise policy (which targets commercial  
> enterprise e.g. publishers) can be aligned and whether they should  
> at all?
>
> Rgds
>
> Theo
>
> ________________
> Dr. Theo Lynn
> Director, Industry Engagement, DCU Business School
> Director, DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre
>
> Address: DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Glasnevin,  
> Dublin 9,
> Ireland
> Telephone: +353-1-7006873
> Mobile: +353-87-2261723
> E-mail: theo.lynn at dcu.ie
> Skype: theoatomic
> Twitter: @theolynn | @dculink | @defictionalised
> Blog: http://theolynn.wordpress.com
> Website: www.link.dcu.ie
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8 Oct 2010, at 17:56, Mary Lou Forward wrote:
>
> So far in this discussion we've seen some interesting debates  
> emerge: the value of peer-reveiw to OER, how much cost should factor  
> into starting or sustaining a project, envisioning an overall goal  
> for the movement, applications of OER in education and other  
> sectors, and the degree to which educators should be obliged to  
> share. I'd like to also consider Educational Policy as a topic,  
> which corresponded with the overall theme of the OCW Consortium's  
> 2010 global conference. Policy can certainly facilitate the adoption  
> of OER, both for use and production. What role do policy makers play  
> in the OER movement? What policies would most help move things  
> forward? At what level (institutional, local, national)?
>
> A few examples to consider:
>
> The New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework (http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/nzgoal 
> ) was approved on July 5 2010 as guidance for state agencies to  
> release materials for re-use using Creative Commons licenses or  
> clear “no known rights” statemtns for non-copyright material. The  
> framework specifically acknowledges that “significant creative and  
> economic potential may lie dormant in such copyright and non- 
> copyright materials when locked up in agencies and not released on  
> terms allowing re-use by others”.
>
> Wikiwijs is a national OER initiative in the Netherlands, lauched by  
> the Minister of Education. It aims to stimulate the development and  
> use of OER by providing a repository of OER, tools for educators,  
> support for creating and using materials, and referrals to other  
> materials. www.wikiwijs.nl; presentation:http://www.slideshare.net/OCWConsortium/wikiwijs-a-nation-wide-initiative-20100505
>
> The State Board of Community and Technical Colleges of Washington  
> State (US) passed a resolution on June 17, 2010 stating “All digital  
> software, educational resources and knowledge produced through  
> competitive grants, offered through and/or managed by the SBCTC,  
> will carry a Creative Commons Attribution License.”www.sbctc.edu/general/admin/Tab_9_Open_Licensing_Policy.pdf
>
> We look forward to hearing your perspectives.
>
> Mary Lou
>
>
> -- 
> Mary Lou Forward
> OpenCourseWare Consortium
> www.ocwconsortium.org
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Mary Lou Forward
> OpenCourseWare Consortium
> www.ocwconsortium.org
>
>
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