Open Educational Resources and UK Higher Education David Kernohan Image: flickr, cc-by Available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Who am I? Programme Manager at JISC, with responsibility for UKOER programme Active on and contribute Personal blog on openness and UK HE policy:

Key messages OER is a key component of an emerging “open academic practice” It can be seen as an exemplar for ways in which we can conduct our professional lives online. It is surprisingly simple to create, release and use OER. OER fits into a number of possible future UKHE worlds.

Future-gazing HIGHER EDUCATION Students at the heart of the system JUNE 2011 Key messages Competition – primarily on cost and quality Emphasis on information provision Especially regarding employment chances Lighter-touch regulation New market entrants What will the HE sector look like? How will it feel to work there?

Two possible responses… OER allows academics to contribute to and engage in “pure education” outside of market constrictions. Many emerging alternatives to marketisied HE are predicated on openness. OER supports learning that is not predicated on an expectation of future employment chances. OER allows you to “own” your own materials, and for others to “own” them too. OER allows you to write, interact, teach, learn and live outside of a marketised space. OER is the ultimate “market information” for entrants. It shows them precisely what they will be dealing with. OER helps you manage risks in using external materials. Most of the world’s best institutions (Yale, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Michigan) release OER. Research has indicated that OER can be a notable factor in driving student application. An institutional OER portal can help build relationships with prospective students. in oppositionin agreement

Further reading OER infokit: (if you are very keen, do have a look at the directory of interesting blog posts around OER and Open Education)blog posts Evaluation and Synthesis Wiki: Programme pages: