Exploring Open Education Across the Hemispheres

Abstract

On June 6, 2023, this live Zoom workshop was presented to members of the Hemispheric University Consortium’s (HUC) Library Network group. During the workshop, participants discussed the value of open educational resources (OER) and how they can improve the affordability, quality, and accessibility of course learning materials for post-secondary students. UNESCO (n.d.) defines OER as “teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions" (https://www.unesco.org/en/open-educational-resources).

The workshop covered the following topics:

(1) Defining the key characteristics of OER (2) Developing skills in searching for OER (3) Describing some of the benefits OER for students & faculty (4) Discussing open licensing models including Creative Commons licenses

The interactive workshop concluded with an activity where participants co-developed a list of potential resources and tools for collaboratively developing OER across HUC institutions.