1. Policy recommendations for the use of Open Educational (Media) Resources in Europe Giles Pepler – Sero Consulting Media & Learning Conference, 12 December 2013, Brussels

2. Achievements Inventory of more than 400 OER initiatives worldwide 30 country reports (11 major) 7 case studies including Wikiwijs, ALISON (Ireland), OER U (global) and FutureLearn (UK mostly) 3 EU-level policy documents for universities, VET and schools In progress: 9 policy documents for UK (x3), Ireland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Poland – and Canada

3. Types of policy interventions interventions that link OER to open access to research and to standards interventions that foster the phenomena (including access, cost and quality; but also others such as development and informed citizenry) that OER is said to facilitate (even if so far without sufficient evidence). interventions that serve to reduce or dismantle the barriers to creation of innovative institutions and innovative practice (including OER, MOOCs and open educational practices).

4. Current policy proposals We are proposing recommendations in ten areas: 1.Innovation – new institutions 2.Accrediting of institutions – new accrediting bodies and mutual recognition 3.Quality agencies 4.Competence-based, not time-based assessment 5.Assessment and accreditation of modules 6.Funding mechanisms for programmes, institutions and content 7.IPR issues 8.Developing the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) 9.Initial academic training and CPD 10.Research into the benefits of OER This presentation focuses on the three areas highlighted in red

5. Recommendations – funding The Commission should ensure that any public outputs from its programmes are made available as open resources under an appropriate license. (e.g. CC) The Commission should encourage member states to do likewise for their national research and teaching development programmes. The Commission should encourage states to promote to publicly funded schools and federations the benefits of making resources available under an open license. The Commission should continue to promote the availability and accessibility of open resources created through its cultural sector programmes. The Commission should encourage member states to do likewise for their domestic cultural sector programmes and to make these available across EU Member states should ensure that budgets for digital educational resources are flexible to support the development/maintenance) of openly licensed materials.

6. Recommendations – open licensing (and research) Member states should establish (and adequately fund) a professional development programme to help teachers and administrators understand the benefits and uses of OER and open licensing. The Commission should continue to promote the OER related initiatives – repositories, federations, portals and tools – it is currently funding (should also encourage member states?) and through them to promote the creation, sharing, use and reuse of high-quality OERs Future K-12 OER research should explicitly embrace Repositories, Federations, Portals and Tools and should consider off-campus learning (both institutional – virtual schools – and self-directed or home-tutor led).

7. Recommendations – IPR and copyright reform The Commission should drive forward copyright and licensing reform and encourage member states to review the barriers to the re-use and repurposing of media resources in their national policies. For a UK view, see http://bufvc.ac.uk/broadcast/presentations?dm_i=IAP,217HU,DL OH14,7BQNU,1 http://bufvc.ac.uk/broadcast/presentations?dm_i=IAP,217HU,DL OH14,7BQNU,1

8. Initial academic training and CPD The Commission should support the development of online initial and continuous professional development programmes for teachers and trainers, focussing on online learning with specific coverage of distance learning, OER, MOOCs and other forms of open educational practice, and also IPR issues. The Commission should encourage member states to do this also and recommend their use of incentive schemes for teachers and trainers engaged in online professional development of their pedagogic skills including online learning.

9. Links and contacts HE proposals, release 1: http://www.scribd.com/doc/169430544/Policies-at-EU-level-for-OER- uptake-in-universities http://www.scribd.com/doc/169430544/Policies-at-EU-level-for-OER- uptake-in-universities VET (ISCED level 4) proposals, release 2: http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/File:POERUP_D4_2C_v0.7.pdf Schools proposals, release 2: http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/File:POERUP_D4_2S_v0.7.pdf POERUP wiki: http://poerup.referata.comhttp://poerup.referata.com POERUP contacts: giles.pepler@sero.co.uk; paul.bacsich@sero.co.ukgiles.pepler@sero.co.ukaul.bacsich@sero.co.uk