This is a presentation given at the Neth-ER Seminar on the European Commission's 'Opening Up Education' event, 1 October 2013, Brussels.

1. The Potential for
Open Policy
Timothy Vollmer, Creative Commons
Neth-ER Seminar: ‘Opening Up Education’
1 October 2013

8. “the rights and obligations of users
of educational materials under
copyright should be more
transparent across borders”

10. What about
policy?

11. Current system = broken

12. Optimized system = possible!

13. PARIS OER
DECLARATION
1. Foster awareness and use of OER.
2. Facilitate enabling environments for use of Information and Communications Technologies
(ICT).
3. Reinforce the development of strategies and policies on OER.
4. Promote the understanding and use of open licensing frameworks.
5. Support capacity building for the sustainable development of quality learning materials.
6. Foster strategic alliances for OER.
7. Encourage the development and adaptation of OER in a variety of languages and cultural
contexts.
8. Encourage research on OER.
9. Facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing of OER.
10. Encourage the open licensing of educational materials produced with public funds.

14. From the communication...
Member states should:
1. Stimulate open access policies for publicly-
funded educational materials;
2. Encourage formal education and training
institutions to include digital content, including
OERs, among the recommended educational
materials for learners at all educational levels and
encourage the production, including through
public procurement, of high-quality
educational materials whose copyrights would
belong to public authorities.

15. 1

16. openpolicynetwork.org

17. OPEN POLICY:
Publicly funded
resources are openly
licensed resources

19. ● Warsaw CC Summit 2011
● OER on the radar of policymakers
● affiliates requested support
● current efforts decentralized and uncoordinated
● need a network to share and discuss
● need best data, toolkits, arguments
● let’s not miss opportunities that arise!
IDEA

20. MISSION
● Foster the creation, adoption, and
implementation of open policies that advance
the public good.
● Do this by supporting advocates,
organizations, policymakers, and connecting
policy opportunities with those who can
provide assistance.

21. PRINCIPLES
● ‘Open Policy’ mantra: publicly funded
resources are openly licensed resources
● Default aim for licensing: Open Definition ( with
preference for CC BY and CC0).
● Do not recreate the wheel; leverage expertise
● Work with existing policy recommendations: Paris
OER, BOAI, Panton Principles, Communia, etc.
● Free for anyone to join. Contribute and abide by
mission and guiding principles.

22. WORK PLAN
● Link to, catalog, and curate existing policy resources.
● Build new resources and/or services only where
capacity or expertise does not currently exist.
● Connect policy makers to experts.
● Provide baseline level of assistance for all
opportunities.
● Share information with openly with members and the
public, using open licenses (of course), multiple
languages, transparent fashion.

24. 2

26. ● Strengthen implementation of OER policies across Europe
● Ensure education policy incorporate “open” principles
● How?
○ Push for all educational content (both textbooks and
other educational materials) produced in Europe with
public funding (both at European level and in
member states) under a free license (CC BY or CC
BY--SA)
● Focus on K-12 education policy
● Raise awareness and demonstrate advantages of OER
● Build a COMMUNITY of European OER policy advocates
● Create CONTENT such as outreach materials on OER and
policy analyses
● Establish CONTACTS with policymakers and key
stakeholders to educate and understand
● Lead: Dr. Alek Tarkowski, Centrum Cyfrowe and CC Poland
● http://wiki.creativecommons.org/European_OER_Policy_Project

27. tvol@creativecommons.org

28. Credits
● Big idea Icon - from the Noun Project, Public Domain
● Blueprint Icon - by Dimitry Sokolov, from The Noun Project - CC BY
● Check List Icon - by fabrice dubuy, from The Noun Project - CC BY
● Hackathon - by Iconathon 2012 - CC0
● Question Icon - by Rémy Médard, from The Noun Project - CC BY
This work is dedicated to the public domain.
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/.
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