Accessing all areas: open practice versus innovation, their influence on Staffordshire University’s open knowledge management

Tuesday 11:00-12:30 (3), Marlborough Suite

Type: Short paper

Theme: Academic practice, development and pedagogy

#oer14 #abs115

Authors

Mrs Vicki McGarvey, Learning and Information Services Manager, Staffordshire University, [email protected]

Abstract

Staffordshire University has been one of the largest contributors of resources to Jorum; this is mainly the result of outputs of previous JISC projects. It cannot be underestimated the value of the contributions of projects in changing the institutional mind-set with respect to openness and in the case of Jorum increasing the groundswell of OER adoption. However, the ever present challenge for institutions is the movement from innovation to integrating openness into existing practice. Despite being a major contributor to the OER collective the University at the moment does not have an open access or open educational resources policy. There is, nevertheless, evidence of embedded open practice at the university, not in OER creation but in open knowledge management, specifically in the areas of access to research, student-generated work and open technologies. This paper will critically examine the influence of open practice versus innovation on the development of institutional open knowledge management.

The paper will begin by defining institutional open knowledge management referring to work undertaken within the Spanish Universities of Salamanca and Alicante. It will then go on to provide an overview of the history of Staffordshire University’s engagement in developing open educational resources via innovative projects. This will be followed by an outline of three activities that are contributory to the development of Staffordshire University’s open knowledge framework. The first example is the journey towards encouraging wider engagement in open access publishing using ePrints, from the REF submission to possible mandating. The second example, is the showcasing of student work in relation to the University’s Staffordshire Graduate scheme. The final example is the library’s adoption of open technologies, in particular the library catalogue, reading lists and open badges.

The evaluation will consider the merits and the challenges of each of the activities within the context of open knowledge. The paper will consider which of these activities have had the biggest impact on the university’s strategic direction with respect to openness and why. It will also reflect on the relationship between the findings and research into OER institutional embedding, in particular promotion, quality standards, technological infrastructure and business models (Samuel et al. 2012, Don 2012).

References

García-Peñalvo, F., García de Figuerola, C. & Merlo, J. A. (2010). Open knowledge: challenges and facts. Information Review. [Online] 34 (4). p. 520-539. Available from: http://search.proquest.com [Accessed: 27th November 2013]
Llorens, F. Bayona, J. J. Gómez, J. & Sanguino, F. (2010). The University of Alicante's institutional strategy to promote the open dissemination of knowledge. Information Review. [Online] 34 (4). p.565-582. Available from http:// search.proquest.com [Accessed: 27th November 2013]
Samuel, N. & Alejandro, A. (2012). The OER mix in higher education: purpose, process, product, and policy. Distance Education. [Online] 33 (2) p.165-184. Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com [Accessed: 27th November 2013]
Don, O Jr. (2012). OER perspectives: emerging issues for universities. Distance Education [Online] 33 (2) p. 283-290 Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com [Accessed: 27th November 2013]

Files

• OER14VMcGarvey.pptx
• OER14VMcGarvey_.pptx
• OER14Notes.docx

Further details

Keywords: open knowledge; embedding practice; innovation; open technologies; repositories; libraries