#336 Presentation

Tuesday 17 April 10:25 - 10:55 Bowett Room

The Open Education Movement in Australia: the need for political leadership

Carina Maria Bossu, University of New England, Australia
David Bull, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Conference Theme: Impact

Summary: This paper explores some OER initiatives in Australia, and then reports on preliminary findings of research in progress.

Abstract: As more and more countries and governments join the open education movement, the Australian Government has to date shown limited interest in embracing the key tenets and aspirations of the movement. The position of the government could best be described as observing from the sidelines as opposed to demonstrating leadership.
One reason for this reluctance to embrace free and open access to education may be linked to the provision of international education in Australia.  The industry generates billions of dollars in annual export income. It is this economic reality that may represent one of the powerful barriers to concepts surrounding “free”; whether access, sharing or repurposing.
Educational trends in Australia are also moving toward greater centralisation, while in contrast, the potential of the open education movement is often viewed as heading in the opposite direction. Despite the above barriers, there have been some initiatives and policy developments at the governmental level in Australia. One of the most recent initiatives is the Australian Government’s Open Access and Licensing Framework (AusGOAL), aimed at providing open access to publicly funded information. Another initiative supported by the Australian government is the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), which is a database containing resources from research institutions in Australia. Likewise, there is the recently revised Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies, which requires that government agencies first consider open source software options when requesting tenders.
Even though these Australian Government initiatives are on par with a number of international developments, these are still overwhelmingly focused on government related agencies rather than on educationally based policies with the potential to promote open education and assist educational providers to pursue this direction. If the Australian Government wishes to take advantage of the benefits of open educational resources and practices, it will need to adopt a policy framework that takes this movement out of the shadows and places it in a more prominent position within the educational mainstream.
This paper starts with further exploration of some of the most important OER initiatives in Australia, and then reports on preliminary findings of research in progress, which surveyed the higher education sector to help establish the current ‘state of play’ of OER in Australia. Interviews with key stakeholders across the sector were also conducted and will be discussed here. The research findings have revealed that there should be intervention from federal policies to regulate the adoption of OER in Australia. According to participants, there is an urgent need for public policies to promote access and availability of OERs in the higher education sector, and that these policies could encourage the growth, development and institutional adoption of open educational resources and practices across the sector in Australia.
It is argued that the Australian Government is aware of the open education movement but has been slow to recognise the global altruistic benefits of the OER movement.  There is an urgent need for a more comprehensive debate of the movement’s potential contribution to education to widen participation both in Australian and around the globe. However, for this to occur the movement must be more fully supported by government policies which support and encourage institutions to share their resources for the public good. Delay in the introduction of open educational resources, as mainstream policy in the provision of education in Australia, will hamper the drive to widen participation to under-represented groups and slow educational collaboration and innovation.