2.4 Why openly license my own materials?

The last section explored some of the reasons to seek out and utilise OER. However, in order to facilitate 'open' best practice it is also good to share material you have created too (and therefore complete the ‘virtuous circle’ mentioned in Section 1.4 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ). After all, materials can’t really be called ‘open’ unless they are both shared and when they’re being created they are made as reuseable as possible (e.g. by providing creator information and details of how you would like them to be reused).

Figure 2.4 ‘Open-closed’ (Robert Couse-Baker, https://www.flickr.com/ photos/ 29233640@N07/ 2856362888/ in/ photostream/, CC BY 2.0)

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The image shows a glass door on the left with the sign ‘CLOSED’ on the door in red writing. On the right is a window with an orange neon sign handing at the top. The neon sign comprises the word ‘OPEN’, although only the letters ‘OPE’ are visible in the image. The full word ‘OPEN’ is reflected in the glass door.

Figure 2.4 ‘Open-closed’ (Robert Couse-Baker, https://www.flickr.com/ photos/ 29233640@N07/ 2856362888/ in/ photostream/, CC BY 2.0)...

There are many reasons for sharing materials. By releasing material on an open licence you might increase the visibility and reputation of your work, find new audiences and networks, or receive increased feedback on what you are doing. Often people are altruistically motivated and become involved in different open practices such as openly licensing their own materials and sharing their resources in order to ‘open up’ or increase participation or widen access to otherwise closed environments and information. By widening access to information, knowledge can be shared more effectively, particularly with people who might otherwise be unable to access materials (e.g. for reasons such as cost or geography).

Figure 2.5 ‘Challenges of using OER’ (Beck Pitt, CC-BY)

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This picture is a photograph of a mind map. In the large font in the top left of the picture is the phrase ‘Key Q’s’ surrounded by 7 question marks. Four arrows lead away from this phrase to the phrases:

• “Does it matter if we use an open licence?”
• “Do we have permission to use an open licence?”
• “Does it matter what licence we use?”
• “Does it matter how we use openly licensed resources?”

Dividing these questions from the rest of the page is a big wavy line.

Below the line in the bottom-right of the picture highlighted is the phrase ‘ask the audience’.

Below the line and in the centre of the picture is the word ‘CHALLENGES’ written in large font. Leading away from this word are 5 arrows leading to phrases and sub-phrases as follows:

• ‘What is OER?’, which leads to ‘Encourage people to find out the answer themselves thru digital media’
• ‘Why bother?’, which leads to ‘Ego ... building your reputation’ and ‘Moral argument’
• ‘My resources are ...’, which leads to (1) ‘Not great’, which leads to ‘Opportunity 4 collaboration’ and ‘Sharing helps you improve own practice – benefits students’, and (2) ‘Too good’, which leads to ‘Really?! You can find out by sharing’ and ‘Public funded resources: open is the default’
• ‘I’m just doing my own thing’, which leads to ‘Social inclusion’
• ‘It’s extra work’, which leads to ‘Yes, but ... it’s investment’ and ‘Time = £££’.

At the top right-hand side of the picture, but in parallel to the right-hand side of the picture is the phrase ‘Better educator = better student experience’.

Figure 2.5 ‘Challenges of using OER’ (Beck Pitt, CC-BY)

When thinking about whether or not to openly license your work, you might have some reservations. For example:

• Do I have the skills or knowledge to license my material?
• If I blog about my research might someone steal my ideas?
• Are my resources good enough?
• What will my colleagues and students think?
• Am I allowed to release my teaching materials on an open licence?
• Do I have the technical and digital skills to create OER?

The sketch note above (which was produced as part of a visual recording of Josie Fraser’s keynote at OEPS Forum 4) shows the results of an ‘ask the audience’ exercise. Josie asked the audience to respond to commonly heard reasons educators give for not using or sharing materials in the open.

Whilst using or incorporating OER into your own practice might not always be visible or impact on others in an obvious way, becoming more open in your practice and sharing your material or resources openly may lead to unanticipated changes to your current practice. You might develop different working strategies, take a different approach to designing the materials themselves or collaborate differently with colleagues if you choose to co-develop openly licensed materials. Letting colleagues and students know that you are using an open resource and explaining what it means can also raise awareness and open up discussions around ‘open’.

Your own, your institution and/or organisation’s approaches to sharing and openness will also have an impact on how you move toward more open ways of practice. Experimenting with releasing images you have created in your own time (for example, holiday photos) openly on Flickr is a great place to start. Depending on your institution’s approach and view of open practices, openly licensing your course materials or resources created in work time might be a more complex matter, particularly in relation to intellectual property and ownership of the resource. To resolve copyright issues, some Scottish Universities, including the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian University, have introduced policies to encourage their students and educators to release material in the open.