Rajiv S. Jhangiani’s research while affiliated with Kwantlen Polytechnic University and other places

During the past twenty years Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have increased educational access and affordability worldwide. The OER-OEP synergy reflects one of the most promising strategies for increasing access to education globally. Despite significant progress, emerging research suggests the need for a more concerted focus on moving from awareness raising to implementation. This article analyses the current status of OER and OEP in concert with the recent educational response to COVID-19 by educational providers with complimentary mini-case studies from Africa, Brazil, Canada, China, Sweden, and Turkey. The ICDE Ambassadors for the global advocacy of OER, and members of ICDE OER Advocacy Committee (authors) argue that in the six countries studied, there is a greater need and greater receptivity to expand access to education through OER and OEP. To better address the immediate needs of the COVID-19 educational crisis, and to make longer term educational improvements, countries should harness the policy supports and actionable steps offered by the UNESCO OER Recommendation. Currently, we see an opportunity to move OER-OEP to resilient sustainable education and the international policy framework to support such work. The article concludes with some general observations for the way forward.

OEP (open educational practices), inclusive of open pedagogy, is often understood with respect to the use of OER (open educational resources) but can be conceived with more expansive conceptualisations (see Cronin & McLaren 2018; DeRosa & Jhangiani 2017; Koseoglu & Bozkurt 2018). This article attempts to build on existing OEP research and practice in two ways. First, we provide a typology of OEP, giving examples of practices across a continuum of openness and along three axes: from content-centric to process-centric, teacher-centric to learner-centric, and practices that are primarily for pedagogical purposes to primarily for social justice (Bali 2017). Second, we employ Hodgkinson-Williams and Trotter’s (2018) conceptual framework, which builds on Fraser’s model of social justice, to critically analyse the ways in which the use/impact of OEP might be considered socially just, with a particular focus on expansive, process-centric OEP. We analyze for whom and in which contexts OEP can (i) support social justice along economic, cultural and political dimensions, and (ii) do so in transformative, ameliorative, neutral or even negative ways. We use the typology and framework to analyse specific process-centric forms of OEP including collaborative annotation, Wikipedia editing, open networked courses, Virtually Connecting, public scholarship, and learner-created OER. Analysing specific practices highlights diversity across the axes and subtle differences among them, such as when a particular practice is considered good pedagogy and how it can be modified to be more oriented towards social justice. We discuss limitations of each practice not just from its discourse and design, but also how it works in practice.

p class="3">Since the launch of the BC Open Textbook Project in 2012, the adoption of open textbooks has steadily grown within public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, Canada. An analysis of adoption records over a five-year period reveals that open textbooks have been adopted across all types of institutions, including research universities, teaching universities, colleges, and institutes, and across a diverse set of disciplines, with the largest numbers in the sciences and social sciences. In this report we identify, describe, and illustrate eight distinct patterns of open textbook adoption. These are: stealth adoption, adoption by infection, committee adoption, sanctioned exceptional adoption, course developer adoption, infection by inter-institutional carrier, creation and adoption, and lone adoption. While these patterns are not intended to be exhaustive, we hope that identifying these patterns provides a useful framework for campus leaders to (a) understand how adoptions occur in their own contexts, (b) identify ways to support further adoptions, (c) recognize that there are multiple ways, and no single path, to supporting the adoption of educational innovations at their institutions, and (d) foster the embrace of wider open educational practices.</p

The increase in the cost of college textbooks together with the proliferation of digital content and devices has inspired the development of open textbooks, open educational resources that are free, openly licensed, and often peer-reviewed. Although several published studies have investigated the impact of open textbook adoption on educational outcomes, none have separated the effects of textbook openness and format and only two have taken place in Canada (Hendricks, Reinsberg, & Rieger, 2017; Jhangiani & Jhangiani, 2017). This study investigates the perceptions, use, and course performance of Canadian post-secondary students assigned a commercial or open textbook in either print or digital format. Results show that students using the print format of the open textbook perceive its quality to be superior to the commercial textbook. Moreover, students assigned an open textbook in either format perform either no differently from or better than those assigned a commercial textbook. These results are consistent with the existing literature and support the conclusion that the cost savings to students associated with the adoption of open textbooks do not come at the expense of resource quality or student performance. L’augmentation du coût des manuels universitaires ainsi que la prolifération du contenu numérique et des appareils électroniques ont inspiré le développement de manuels ouverts, des ressources éducationnelles qui sont gratuites, dont les licences d’exploitation sont ouvertes et qui sont souvent évalués par les pairs. Bien que plusieurs études publiées aient étudié l’impact de l’adoption de manuels ouverts sur les résultats éducationnels, aucune n’a séparé les effets du caractère ouvert des manuels et du format et seulement deux études ont été menées au Canada (Hendricks, Reinsberg & Rieger, 2017; Jhangiani & Jhangiani, 2017). Cette étude examine les perceptions, l’emploi et les résultats des étudiants dans des établissements d’enseignement supérieur canadiens à qui on avait assigné un manuel commercial ou un manuel ouvert en format imprimé ou numérique. Les résultats ont montré que les étudiants qui avaient utilisé le format imprimé du manuel ouvert avaient perçu que sa qualité était supérieure à celle du manuel commercial. De plus, les étudiants à qui on avait assigné un manuel ouvert dans l’un ou l’autre des formats avaient obtenu des résultats semblables à ceux des étudiants à qui on avait assigné un manuel commercial. Ces résultats concordent avec les publications existantes et confirment la conclusion que les économies de coûts pour les étudiants liées à l’adoption de manuels ouverts n’entraînent pas une dégradation de la qualité des ressources ni des résultats des étudiants.

The open education (OE) movement is in its adolescent years and experiencing an identity crisis as it is pulled towards both pragmatism (marked by an emphasis on cost savings, resources, and incremental change) and idealism (marked by an emphasis on permissions, practices, and radical change). In this article, I describe these tensions (free vs. freedom; evolution vs. revolution; and resources vs. practices) before going on to argue in favour of a nuanced resolution to this Eriksonian crisis that reflects the diverse needs and motivations of educators. The merits of an integrated approach and its implications for the future trajectory of the OE movement are discussed.

p class="3">Unrelenting increases in the price of college textbooks have prompted the development and adoption of open textbooks, educational resources that are openly licensed and available to students free of cost. Although several studies have investigated U.S. students’ perceptions and use of open textbooks, there are no published studies of this kind in Canada. Similarly, although the negative impact of commercial textbook costs on student outcomes is well documented within the United States, it is unknown whether these trends generalize to the Canadian post-secondary context. The present study involves a survey of 320 post-secondary students in British Columbia enrolled in courses using an open textbook during the Spring 2015, Summer 2015, and Fall 2015 semesters. The survey investigates students’ textbook purchasing behaviours, including whether, where, and in what format(s) they purchase and access their required textbooks; the negative impact of textbook costs on their course enrolment, persistence, and performance; how they access and use their open textbook, including their format preferences and study habits; and their perceptions of their open textbook, including its quality and what features they like and dislike. The study’s strengths and limitations are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.</p

This insightful collection of essays explores the ways in which open education can democratise access to education for all. It is a rich resource that offers both research and case studies to relate the application of open technologies and approaches in education settings around the world. Global in perspective, this book argues strongly for the value of open education in both the developed and developing worlds. Through a mixture of theoretical and practical approaches, it demonstrates that open education promotes ideals of inclusion, diversity, and social justice to achieve the vision of education as a fundamental human right. A must-read for practitioners, policy-makers, scholars and students in the field of education.

Report abstract: "This research examines the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) by post-secondary faculty in British Columbia, including their motivations and perceptions, as well as what factors help to enable or act as challenges for OER use and adaptation. Although the findings provide a snapshot of the BC post- secondary system as a whole, we also explore similarities and differences in OER use among faculty across the three institution types in British Columbia: research-intensive universities, teaching-intensive universities, and colleges/institutes (see Appendix A). This research also investigates the relationships between faculty use of OER and institutional policies, the tendency to share teaching materials, and the personality trait of openness." This report was published on 18 January 2016 and is the outcome of collaborative open research by BCcampus and the OER Hub. You can find out more about the report's background: http://open.bccampus.ca/2016/01/18/new-study-exploring-faculty-use-of-oer-at-bc-institutions/