What is Open Education?
We recognise that there is no single, universal definition of OE or OEP and that interpretations vary across institutions, disciplines and roles. Our work is grounded in this conceptual framework:
- Open Education (OE): We understand OE as a broad ecosystem that includes educational resources, tools, techniques, technologies or policies that are openly and freely shared to be used by anyone. In other words, OE is what is made open.
- Open Education Practice (OEP): We understand OEP to refer to the practices enabled by OE in teaching and learning through collaboration, learner agency and co-creation. In other words, OEP is how openness is enacted.
- Open Educational Resources (OER): Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. (UNESCO, 2019)
Open Education at Deakin University
The Open Education (OE) team leads the design and delivery of the Library’s OE operational services and strategic initiatives.
OE at Deakin is a broad domain involving many parts of the University working together. Our focus is where OE connects with the principles and practices of information management and information literacy. At the heart of this intersection is Open Education Resources (OER) and the pedagogies enabled by them. We bring expertise in:
- OER discovery, searching, selection and provision
- OER publishing
- Open licensing
- OER-enabling platforms, infrastructure, technologies, and tools
- OER-enabled pedagogies.
We also advocate for and lead initiatives across policy, strategy and governance that support the institutionalisation of open education. This aligns to our Library commitment ‘to achieve deeper, systemic change over the next five years’.
Our team of experts
Our Scholarly Services Librarians support Open Education at Deakin through course resource provision support, including OER searching and discovery. They bring disciplinary expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics (STEMM) and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) fields.
Our Open Education Team works alongside Scholarly Services Librarians and our Copyright team to manage and deliver academic capability development, OER publishing services, the OER grants program, and maintains an extensive suite of online resources designed to support Open Education at Deakin. The Open Education team includes:
- Angie Williamson, Librarian, Open Education
- Lauren Halcomb-Smith, Lecturer, Open Education
Our services
The Library provide Open Education expertise through the following Library Learning and Teaching Services:
- curriculum resource provision
- OER publishing
- capability development.
We deliver these services through:
- Queries - Just-in-time requests for support, information or advice.
- Consultations - One-on-one meeting with a librarian about OER searching, discovery, adoption and creation.
- Workshops and presentations - Workshops and on-request presentations about OER searching, discovery, adoption and creation.
- Online capability building resources - An extensive suite of Library resource guides and a series of self-paced learning modules about OER.
Find out more and stay in touch
- Subscribe to Article to follow Open Education Library News.
- Contact your librarian for support with OER searching and discovery.
- Contact the Open Education team about your OER project.
- Explore the Library service catalogue for a full list of Library services.