Creative Commons hosts an OER Policy Registry, ‘a database of current and proposed OER policies from around the world. Here, anyone can easily share, update, and browse policies and legislation. In addition, they host supporting policy resources such as case studies and guides.’ They believe that ‘Sharing our collective knowledge of existing OER policies, in the same way we believe in sharing educational resources, will help advocates and policymakers further open policies worldwide.’
An institutional or country’s policy on OER does not have to be a standalone policy. Quite often, the OER items are added to existing policies on Intellectual Property, ICT, eLearning, Human Resources, Quality Assurance, or Learning Materials Development. In addition, the policy may provide for open access to an institutional open repository containing licensed learning resources and open courses (internal and external), and research resources such as dissertations, thesis, and open access journals.
Many institutions prefer to have policy statements on OER worked into existing policies rather than develop a separate OER policy. Ideally, issues around intellectual property and openness should be worked into other policies where appropriate. This is true at both institutional and national levels.
OER Africa’s website also includes an extensive collection of policies related to open licensing and OER that you can browse and download. These can be found here.
- With respect to policy, what would work at your institution? Would you develop a dedicated OER or open learning policy or, alternatively, integrate statements about OER into your Intellectual Property policy, ICT policy and other related policies?