Bringing systemic shape to open initiatives

This morning’s kickoff presentation by Fred Mulder from the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) was memorable, not for a gee-whiz social media show on openness, but for a quiet, pragmatic approach to demonstrating how to begin the institutionalization of open thinking. (The video stream of Fred’s prezo below follows remarks by Chris Lott and Dave Cormier about other conference stuff).

The Mulder presentation conveyed a sober view of what it actually takes to move open education and OER models forward in the context of academic, institutional and political structures that are specific to individual jurisdictions. Fred’s examples were attuned to the reality of the Netherlands, but much of his approach is likely generalizable in other western contexts.

My take-aways:

Have a systemic strategy (make it explicit)

Use a strategy than spans K-Life (K-12, post-secondary and beyond)

Market the strategy effectively (to colleagues, to funders, to politicians)

Draw upon supporting strategies from other contexts (The Netherlands pointed to India’s strategy)

Pick an ideal license model for OERs (even if you’ve previously chosen something less than ideal)

Seek adequate funding

Use open textbooks as an easy entry point to providing open resources systemically

Understand that a mix of open and proprietary may be a reality you will face

Ensure that training and research are the complementary bookends of the implementation process

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