OER Policy and Strategy – Position Paper No. 3

OER Policy and Strategy: How to create models for a sustainable future?

This paper comments on the current state of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Europe, in particular at the policy and strategy level. It challenges some of the altruistic, philanthropic and public good drivers underlying the OER movement by identifying the need to align new open solutions with the actual problems educators and learners face in today’s challenging educational landscape. Moreover, the paper critically reflects on why despite the efforts of leading advocates so few governments, schools, universities and businesses, have failed to explicitly commit to adopting Open Educational Practices (OEPs) as a core policy agenda and distinctive feature of their practice.

In summary, this paper challenges the sector to go beyond altruism and endorses the view that “…policy will be the lever by which open practice can become sustainable and
mainstream” (Weller, 2014, p.201). The Encore+ project seeks to give “voice” to more stakeholders to support the development of OER institutional strategies in both academia and business contexts in order to promote their mainstreaming and a strong European OER ecosystem.

Read the third ENCORE+ Policy and Strategy Position Paper: