Open Educational Resources: Policies for Promotion

Creative Commons UK (ccUK) and iCommons Ltd. are pleased to join with Nature Publishing Group to host a ccSalon: Open Education in the Digital Age.

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to reduce costs while enhancing both the quality and flexibility of educational materials by allowing free and widespread participation in their production and use. This ccSalon will discuss the state of OER and the effect of copyright and other policies on the development of digital tools and content for education.

PANELISTS

Catherine M. Casserly, CEO, Creative Commons. Dr. Casserly has been a long-time advocate of open educational resources (OER). As the Director of the OER Initiative at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation she managed investments totaling more than $100 million to harness the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge sharing worldwide. At the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Cathy spearheaded work in the areas of transparency and technology as a Senior Partner and the Vice President of Innovation and Open Networks and launched a continuous performance improvement system to create alternative mathematics pathways for community college students. She sits on the boards of Startl and Peer-2-Peer University and serves on advisory committees for MIT OpenCourseWare and the University of the People.

Victor Henning, Co-Founder & CEO, Mendeley Ltd. Mendeley is a London- and New York-based technology startup. Since its launch in 2009, Mendeley has grown into the world's largest research collaboration platform and database. For his work on Mendeley, Victor was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds a Ph.D. from the Bauhaus-University of Weimar, where he researched the role of emotion in consumer decision making. Prior to this, he worked in strategy consulting, film production, and music.

Naomi Korn, Co-Founder, Web2Rights. Web2Rights is a team of lawyers, consultants, learning technologists and pedagogic experts focused upon the need to address cultural and practical obstacles in engaging with Web2.0, IPR and other legal issues. Ms. Korn has extensive experience in the practical application of issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights, rights management and licensing to digital content within the educational, cultural and heritage sectors. She has been the lead consultant and project manager of the JISC IPR Consultancy, the SCA IPR Consultancy and IP Officer for the Collections Trust.

Patrick McAndrew, OLnet Director, The Open University. Dr Patrick McAndrew is Senior Lecturer in The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology. He is Director of the Hewlett Foundation funded OLnet initiative and leads the Learning in an Open World programme within IET. His research has developed from addressing how materials and environments can support learning through the use of learning design and the provision of tools for learners to the impact of openness on learnin and teaching. He led the Research and Evaluation of OpenLearn and is currently working in the Bridge to Success project together with US partners to provide open material targetting the needs of students entering Community College. He has contributed to commissioned reports for UNESCO, OECD and JISC as part of more than 100 book chapters, journal and conference papers, and published reports.

Amber Thomas, Digital Infrastructure Programme Manager, JISC, a world leader in the promotion of OER. Thomas manages work on open educational resources and repositories such as Jorum. She oversees JISC projects on the technical and IPR issues which surround putting resources online and has particular interests in open data. Thomas not only has experience and expertise in higher education, but also in further education from experience gained with Becta as content officer of the National Grid for Learning and the Ferl Online Service that provided support on information and learning technology (ILT) in further education. Thomas has been the leadership force as JISC’s support for the development of informational resources and technical tools that enable easier adoption of open educational materials.

PANEL MODERATOR

Joscelyn Upendran, ccUK Public Lead. Joscelyn is a lawyer with experience in the academic field where she lectured at undergraduate and postgraduate level on programmes for trainee professionals. Joscelyn also worked with business clients to develop and deliver bespoke training programmes and managed and delivered distance learning programmes which interests led her to co-found lovle, a company that specialises in providing eLearning and eBusiness solutions.

CC would like to give special thanks to Macmillan Publishers for generously hosting this event. Under the leadership of CEO Annette Thomas, a member of CC’s Board of Directors, Macmillan’s Nature Publishing Group offers multiple scientific journals under CC’s open licenses.  

This event is free and open to the public however advance registration is required due to building security. Light refreshments will be provided.

Location Details:

Tel: +44 (0)20 7833 4000

Nearest Station: King's Cross St.Pancras

About ccSalons: ccSalons are informal events that bring people together to share experience and insight around 21st century issues such as digital copyright, creativity, and sharing online. The theme varies from education to science to media, and more, and events are free and open to the public. Salons are filmed and available for viewing after the event.

About Creative Commons: Creative Commons’ licensing has been widely adopted by organizations such as Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, GlaxoSmithKline, Europa, YouTube and Flickr, as well as dozens of governments, libraries, museums and galleries around the world. At present, over 500 million pieces of content have a Creative Commons license.

About iCommons:  Incubated in the UK by Creative Commons, iCommons promotes collaboration among proponents of open education, access to knowledge, free software, open access publishing and free culture communities around the world. UK Co. Reg. No. 5398065 | UK Charity Reg. No. 1111577 | Registered Office: 36 Merrivale Square, Oxford OX2 6QX..

Image: ccSalon London logo by Valeria Cavazos and Diane Cabell. CC-BY.