Abstract
Open Educational Practices (OEP) have gained traction internationally over the last fifteen years, with individuals, institutions, and governments increasingly interested in the affordances of openness. Whilst initiatives, policies, and support mechanisms are evident, there is an ever-present danger of localised contexts being unintentionally unrecognised, which has a negative effect on mainstreaming the practice sustainably. This paper presents a conceptual framework for open research based on Bronfenbrenner’s’ Ecology of Human Development (1979) and asserts that it is through an understanding of complex influences and contexts of practice that strategic and operational processes to enable open education are manifested. It presents the framework through the lens of an emerging research project examining the experience of OEP in four Australian universities which will apply the framework as a guide for not only survey and interview question design, but also data analysis with the aim to inform broader policy development locally and nationally.
Highlights
The term Open Educational Resources (OER) has been researched for fifteen years
Whilst the promise of OER has been equity of access to education, to reduce the associated costs of education, broader participation and opportunities, and opportunities to raise the quality of education internationally, the priorities for Open Educational Practice (OEP) differ by geographic region
Context is the foundation for understanding teaching and learning practice, and the influences on practitioners are evident at varying levels of a complex ecology
Summary
The term Open Educational Resources (OER) has been researched for fifteen years. Over that time the Cape Town Declaration and the Paris Declaration have reached an international audience, operationalised by global progress in institutional and national policy, legislation, funding initiatives, research projects, conferences, symposia, and communities of practice. The position of OEP has been at the nexus of educational change as it relates to teaching practice, teaching resources, and the role of the student and teacher in an open and connected learning environment. As student and teacher context and prior experience is accepted as an integral part of constructivist, and connectivist pedagogies, so too should this inform the sustainable, embedded transformation that open education promises. The ‘authentic perspective’ sought is one informed by actual, lived practice that recognises the effects of enablers and barriers within an individuals’ environment. It seeks to do so concurrently with an examination of the value proposition of openness in a global educational environment that provides a rationale for engagement with OEP to accompany the proposed framework.
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