Department/Institutional Level

At the department level, a few Ontario institutions have created a center dedicated to supporting the development of open educational resources. Formal centers can provide wrap around support for faculty who may struggle with the technical aspects of publishing, and also rapidly build awareness in the institution. Planning an initiative on this scale requires a business plan outlining the overall goals, structure, funding, and reporting metrics.

• Policies and Plans
• Organization Structure and Roles
• Resource Needs & Funding
• Processes
• Metrics
• Communication Plan

Policies and Plans

By adopting high-level open education policies and guidelines, institutions signal their commitment by making open education integral to their mission. Of course, policies don’t exist in a vacuum; they are borne out of a need to establish and codify an institution’s procedures (Skidmore & Provida, 2019). An open policy model may include: inclusion in strategic plan, tenure/promotion considerations, intellectual property rights, required educational resources, institutional groups and committees, roles, funding and technology/infrastructure required.

Resources

• Research Report – A Place for Policy: The Role of Policy in Supporting Open Educational Resources and Practices at Ontario’s Colleges and Universities
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Open Education Strategic Plan (2018-2023)
• Open Washington – Open Educational Resources Network OER Policy Videos
• OER Policy Development Tool

Organization Structure and Roles

The structure of the department will be unique to each institution. Some of the key roles and duties required to provide wrap-around support to faculty and staff creating OER include those listed below. The duties listed may be part of a shared role across departments or may form part of an individual’s overall role within the institution.

Funding

Funding required to form a new open education department includes resources to staff the department, any technological needs, including software licenses, as well as money available for grants. Additional funds may be required for memberships with open organizations and professional development. The following are some resources to help develop an OER grant program at your institution.

Resources

• Ontario Open Library Network OER Grant Program Templates
• BCcampus Open Education Resources Grant Program
• Examples: Fanshawe OER Grant Program, McMaster OER Grant Program, University of Ottawa Library OER Grant

Processes

Processes are essential for ensuring the department runs effectively. Processes required to run a department could include: OER environment scan process, OER development process, OER adoption process, and OER grant process.

Resources

• Fanshawe OER Design Studio Processes
• Seneca OER Workflows
• CLO Free the Textbook Workflow
• Other Workflow Examples

Metrics

There are several ways to measure the impact of open education initiatives. The metrics tracked will depend on the overall purpose and value proposition of the initiative. It is important to identify the metrics to be tracked at the beginning, as it can be difficult to go back and try to locate the information after the fact. Metrics can be tracked in software if available, or by using spreadsheet software.

According to David Wiley, the key metrics for measuring the student impact of open educational materials are success, scale, and savings (3S’s).

Wiley provides a final impact formula based on relative weights for each of the 3S’s which can be found here: S3: A Holistic Framework for Evaluating the Impact of Educational Innovations (Including OER)..

Some other indicators to consider for measurement of OER impact can be found below.

Resources

• The eCampus Ontario Impact page shows the total student savings in Ontario and also provides a calculator to see how much a faculty member could save students. It includes other important statistics and graphics as well.
• eCampus Ontario Data Collection: A place for tools and templates to assess the OER landscape at your institution
• The BCcampus Open Textbook statistics page includes information about student savings, known adoptions, and the number of reviews for each book.

Communication Plan

It is critical that you have a plan for how to communicate the support available for open education initiatives, as well as the results and impact of the initiatives. The OER Champion Playbook by Lumen Learning outlines various ‘plays’ to help generate awareness excitement and momentum about open education. Some key plays include:

• An OER initiative website – Create a website to let your campus community (and the world) know about your OER initiative and the impact you’re making with OER.
• Marketing Campaigns – Raise awareness about your initiatives by targeting departments, faculty, and support staff with strategic messaging that promotes specific action.
• OER Award and Recognition Program – Create an award program to recognize and express appreciation for individual contributions moving towards broader use of OER.
• Student Savings Social Media Campaigns – Invite students to share what they spent on textbooks and how they utilized cost savings via social media to promote OER.

Resources

• eCampus Ontario Slide Decks: Adaptable presentations for leading workshops or classes about OER.
• eCampus Ontario Promotion materials: Promotional visual assets for promoting OER at your institution.

Activity : Reflect on your Institution

Take a moment to reflect on your institution.