Reuven Carlyle webinar on OER and policy
Representative Reuven Carlyle from the Washington State House of Representatives gave a talk on Open Education and Policy on November 18, 2010 via the OpenCourseWare Consortium.
Education and Policy (Webinar Nov 2010) from OpenCourseWare Consortium on Vimeo.
Representative Carlyle said that Open Education is a paradigm shift, a political and social movement that needs to change the core expectations of publicly funded content. He said that the overarching philosophy for open education should be that this is social justice and moral issue, not just a business issue, and that open access to content and course materials is basic right. Carlyle mentioned the passage of legislation in Washington State (HB 1946). HB 1946 was not specifically about open policy or the Open Course Library, but essentially required all of Washington State public higher education communities to get together and talk about how to be more effective and efficient with both technology and content. The Technology Transformation Taskforce came out of HB 1946. That task force was tasked with the following: “(a) Investigate similar efforts, strategies, programs, and options in other states, of private providers of higher education in the state, and global consortia related to: (v) Methods and open licensing options for effectively sharing digital content including but not limited to: Open courseware, open textbooks, open journals, and open learning objects; and (b) Focus on statewide capability and standards that enable the efficient use of common applications, web hosting services, user support, staff training, and consolidated software licenses and open educational resources.”
The Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges has adopted an open licensing policy for competitive grants, which says that “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.” Washington state has essentially changed burden of proof from propriety and closed to open. The amazing progress that’s been demonstrated in Washington state came about in part due to Washington’s comprehensive technology strategy plan, which laid the foundation for open content and for an expectation to move away from proprietary approaches to technology itself. One of the principles laid out in the plan is to “cultivate the culture and practice f using and contributing to open educational resources.” Carlyle said, “we need to subsidize openness, not propriety content.”
Carlyle said that while we need to support open education as a moral and social justice issue from an ideological perspective, the overarching strategy and public policy challenge is mainly about money. He said that this issue is way more complex than it needs to be, and that we, as OER advocates, need to make the business case, and talk about the return on investment in adopting and using OER. The financial case alone is enough to convince policymakers, even without explaining the potential benefits to learning outcomes. Carlyle said, “publicly funded educational resources ought to be available to the public.” The idea that the public is paying for commercial content that can be locked up and charged for over and over again is inconsistent with the idea of public funding in general.
He said that there is a dire lack of awareness, knowledge about the benefits of open. Carlyle said that college presidents, school superintendents, and policymakers need to understand open. He noted that the biggest pushback right now is from those who don’t really know about open. He said that traditional publishers have been generally ok with what Washington has been doing with regard to supporting open, especially in relation to openly created courses and accompanying materials.
Carlyle said that in order to affect national OER policy, advocates need to talk to groups like the National Governors Association, National Legislative Association, and other coordinating groups. OER advocates need to educate policymakers and influencers about the cost savings and value of open. They need to educate budget chairpersons about the financial case for open. Carlyle said that business case cannot be overstated because cost saving unites all political parties.
He suggested increased coordination among OER advocates, calling for five “open” champions in each state and at the federal level, and internationally in each country. In the K-12 space, Carlyle said that OER doesn’t necessarily need to be comprehensive, at least at first. Instead, OER adoption needs to be measured, more modest in scope, and start in science and math. He and others suggested using language such as “set the default to open.” Carlyle also said that we need the standards on how to locate content, we need partnerships with the business community, and we need to create materials to educate teachers and educators and a place to put these resources for use and updating.
