Speakers: Gillian Brown, Centre for Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Medicine (MEDEV)
Gillian Brown, from the Centre for Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Medicine (MEDEV) talks about the risks associated with OER and the value of Creative Commons to protect against copyright infringement.
Gillian first defined OER and invited us to explore how we can make OERs more accessible.
“Ten to 15 years ago it was fantastic to use PowerPoint Presentations instead of overhead projectors,” she said. “Lecturers thought it was great. The material could be uploaded, they could copy and past images and show them to students.“
“Along came mobile phones and MP3 players, and students were downloading these files to their devices,” she says. “Then came social networking, and students found lectures so interesting that they started uploading content onto their profiles on the Internet.”
And here began the problem, because this raised serious copyright issues. “Within your VLE limited numbers of people saw it so it wasn’t really an issue, but once material is published online without permission then this becomes a problem.“
OER was developed to sort out the kind of issues that arise with sharing material online, and it aims to promote best practice in this area. “These are resources with an open licenses to reuse and repurpose as you see fit,” says Gillian. “It’s not about re-inventing the wheel,” she adds. “It’s about sharing with colleagues and peers, and finding aspects that are useful for you and inserting it into your learning resources.“
So what are the benefits of using OER? “Emerging evidence shows that the time staff spends on resources can be reduced by 50% by engaging with OER. Students also save time and money.
As Gillian explains, teaching staff need to arm themselves with the right information so they can understand and manage the risks associated with using OER, and in order to to make the most from OERs there are considerations to be taken into account. “What if you move institution?” says Gillian. “Cab you take the material with you? Do you own the copyright, or is it owned by the university?”
“Or what if you got promoted? Are you entitled to use your predecessor’s work that they left behind?”
“Copyright is key with OER,” she says. “Creative Commons is a legal statement outlining what you can and can’t do with copyrighted work. It is the way to guard yourself against copyright infringement. And if you train your staff on how to create resources that are safeguarded against being sued for copyright infringement this will filter down to the students.”
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