The increasing use of open educational resources (OERs) in academia presents an ideal opportunity for institutional copyright officers to leverage their unique practical and theoretical expertise and actively participate in these processes of pedagogical innovation. OERs offer a number of advantages and benefits in education practices because the content can be openly reused, retained, revised, remixed, and redistributed to suit any required or preferred purpose. But OERs are not widely understood as of the present, so intentionally relaying OER information, particularly licensing clarifications, in faculty consultations, education and training sessions, and copyright information guides is one direct approach that can close this institutional knowledge gap. Additionally, copyright officers are generally well placed
to facilitate discussion with all relevant stakeholders through their connections with many other
administrative units in the institution; they can also join or help form committees tasked with OER implementation. All such efforts can contribute to a balanced, informed, and productive introduction of OER use in an institution. Finally, conceptual elements drawn from the multi-disciplinary open access discourse can inform the theoretical foundations of an effective approach to integrating OER advocacy with copyright management. These elements can also be used to formulate the concept of “sustainable copyright”.
Learning objectives: The information delivered in this session will help prepare attendees to:
- Develop, analyse, and/or refine existing strategies and copyright management practices for direct involvement in the adoption and creation of OERs in their own institutions based on descriptions of the activities and practices undertaken by the presenter at his institution.
- Explore other external support networks for OER implementation strategies and practices based on a description of the initiatives and activities of the BCOER Librarians group.
- Explore theoretical foundations and justifications for OER advocacy based on concepts drawn from the open access discourse, as well as elements from specific disciplines such as education, intellectual property, and economics.
