White Paper on Open Educational Resources

In response to increasing membership interest in Open Educational Resources (OER) and the library's role in this endeavour, from September 2016 until November 2017, OCUL undertook an environmental scan and analysis of current activities in the realm of open education publishing. This research resulted in the creation of the Open Educational Resources White Paper, which was approved for distribution in November 2017.

The scope of this report focused on the following topics:

  • Overview of the current teaching and learning environment
    • Faculty perspective
    • Student perspective
  • Environmental scan of national and international OER initiatives across libraries
  • Legal considerations and licensing for producing and repurposing existing works
  • Accessibility implications
  • Technology and tools in use
  • Current opportunities and the next frontier

OER White Paper

You may download a copy of the white paper in PDFPDF Icon.

The white paper consists of the following components:

  • An executive summary
  • Landscape of OER: review of the national and international OER landscape
  • The OCUL Context: environmental scan, survey results and analysis of the OCUL context, including recommendations
  • Primer: general information and terminology around OER
  • Reference List
  • Appendices

Research team

This report was produced by an OCUL working group consisting of the following members:

  • Katya Pereyaslavska, Online Learning & Accessibility Librarian, Scholars Portal (project lead)
  • Amy Greenberg, Assistant Director, Scholars Portal
  • Anika Ervin-Ward, Administration and Communications Coordinator, OCUL
  • Heather Martin, Copyright Officer & Manager, E-Learning & Reserves, University of Guelph Library
  • Catherine Davidson, Associate University Librarian for Collections & Research, York University Libraries
  • Ann Ludbrook, Copyright & Scholarly Engagement Librarian, Ryerson University Library
  • Scott Cowan, Librarian, University of Windsor Library
  • Carole Moore, former Chief Librarian, University of Toronto Libraries
  • Lillian Rigling, Research & Instructional Services Librarian, Western University Libraries

A subset of OCUL Directors reviewed the White Paper and provided the working group with feedback on its analysis and recommendations.

To provide input with regard to this report or to ask a question, please contact the OCUL office at ocul [at] ocul.on.ca (subject: OCUL%20White%20Paper%20on%20OER) .