Leigh BLACKALL

Sunday 10 May 2009 5:02:49 pm

Open Education at Otago Polytechnic

In 2006 Educational developers at Otago Polytechnic started lobbying for open educational resource development and educational practices. Teachers began looking at ways to use social media for their own learning, and experimenting with it in classes. By 2008 Otago Polytechnic had written itself a new Intellectual Property Policy that stipulated the use of the Creative Commons Attribution License over all Polytechnic content, and encouraging teachers and students to do the same with theirs. That same year the Chief Executive Officer Phil Kerr, signed Otago Polytechnic to the Capetown Declaration of Open Education, making the Polytechnic the first New Zealand educational institution officially an institution of open educational principles.

Today, work continues in developing open educational practices. As more and more students are willing to engage in learning online and with online media and communications, more and more the open access to education is being realised. Throughout 2009, development continues in looking for ways to remove barriers to information and learning, as well as on refining new economic models for educational provision.

Hope you'll watch <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Gri8y9iYA">the video</a> in which staff at the Polytechnic tell the story of open educational developments.