For higher education institutions, implementing open educational practices holds the promise of reducing educational barriers for students. By broadening learning opportunities and prioritising the democratisation of education, open educational practices become a transformative force that can foster a cohesive academic community and elevate student learning experiences.
As part of this year’s Open Education Week at UTS, our theme is ‘Socially just education through open educational practices’. Here are some of the questions we’re tackling:
- What do we mean by open educational practices, and how do they support social justice and inclusivity in education?
- Why is it vital to embrace openness as a mindset to ensure accessible open resources?
- How can open education contribute to sustainable development goals (SDGs)?
- What does ‘open’ mean in an AI-generated world, and who owns content generated using AI?
- How can I adopt open educational practices in my own teaching and learning?
We’re hosting a series of activities from 4-8 March as part of an ongoing global movement to raise awareness and promote the benefits of open education. Find out more below!
What is Open Education?
Open education refers to a movement that seeks to increase access to educational resources and opportunities by removing barriers such as cost, geography, and other factors that may limit access to education. Open education can take various forms, including open educational resources (OER), open textbooks, massive open online courses (MOOCs), open access journals, and other educational initiatives that aim to provide learning experiences that are accessible, adaptable, and inclusive. The underlying principles of open education include collaboration, sharing, and open access, which can help to promote greater equity and inclusivity in education.
What is Open Education Week?
Open Education Week is an annual event to raise awareness and showcase the impact of open education around the world. It typically takes place in the first week of March and involves hundreds of universities, colleges, schools, and organisations from around the world.
Open Education Week is organised by Open Education Global (OEGlobal), a network of higher education institutions and organisations committed to advancing open education and supporting the adoption of open educational practices. OEGlobal also works to promote the development of sustainable models for open education around the world through a range of international initiatives.
UTS Open Education Week program – register for events
We are hosting a series of events covering inclusivity, accessibility, sustainability and GenAI. Events are open to all and you can register via the following links:
- 4 March at 3:30pm – Fostering inclusive education through Open Educational Practices (Associate Professor Glenda Cox, UNESCO Chair on Open Education and Social Justice, University of Cape Town; Yasser Tamer, The American University in Cairo)
- 5 March at 11am – Accessibility in Open Education with H5P (Nikki Andersen, University of Southern Queensland, Associate Professor Simon Lolliot, University of British Columbia)
- 6 March at 12pm – From Concept to Classroom: Creating an Open Textbook in 12 months (Keith Heggart, Mais Fatayer, Shaun Bell and Rhiannon Hall from UTS)
- 7 March at 11am – OEW x Learning Design Meetup: Synergising sustainability with OERs in Higher Education (Christina Brauer and Jenny Wallace from UTS)
- 8 March at 11am – Navigating the impact of GenAI disruption with Open Educational Practices (Paul Stacey, Former Executive Director of Open Education Global, Canada)