The effects of the climate crisis are far-reaching. According to the United Nations, the impacts are “not be[ing] borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations” (Climate Justice, UN Official website).
As a result of these power imbalances communities are unable to produce, disseminate, and utilise information about the climate crisis. We can address the inequities that shape the impacts of climate change and our responses to them by fostering openness and knowledge sharing. This is the theme of Open Access Week in 2022.
International Open Access Week is a time to coordinate across communities to make openness the default for research and to ensure that equity is at the centre of this work. Selected by the Open Access Week Advisory Committee, this year’s theme is an opportunity to join together, take action, and raise awareness around how open enables climate justice. Open Access Week 2022 will be held from October 24-30, although anyone is encouraged to host discussions and take action around the ‘Open for Climate Justice’ theme whenever is most suitable during the year, and to adapt the theme and activities to their local context.
From openaccessweek.org.
UTS Open Access Week events
During Open Access Week, LX.lab and UTS Library will be hosting the ‘Embedding open content in learning and teaching‘ event. Participants will have the opportunity to hear from three different faculties using open educational resources (OER) in their learning and teaching.
There are many studies that show the benefits and challenges of adopting OER and OEP in learning and teaching. For example, Karunanayaka, S. P., & Naidu, S. (2019) reported on the impact of integrating OER in learning and teaching, suggesting that the integration of OER had a substantial impact on changing academics’ use of learning resources and pedagogical practices.
Despite the benefits of OER, there are many issues that hinder their adoption by academics. For example:
- Lack of awareness of open licensing.
- Lack of a metric for judging OER quality.
- The time required to search for OER.
Through this event, we will address some of these major concerns and provide those who have never used OER with a clear idea about what is required when utilising OER in their teaching. Participants will also be asked to consider how OER can be connected to the theme of this year’s Open Access Week: Open Access for Climate Justice.
More open access events
- Publishing in Open Access Journals (workshop) | Wed 26 Oct 2:00 – 3:30 pm
- Embedding Open Content in Learning and Teaching (panel) | Thu 27 Oct 12:00 – 1:00 pm
- Unlock Open Educational Resources for your class (workshop) | Thu 27 Oct 2:00 – 3:00 pm
- Open Access Week Challenge: online quiz with the chance to win prizes! Try it now: Access the online quiz via Sharepoint.
Log in with your UTS ID and password to view the full program.
Resources for OER
Our Integrating Open Education Resources in your teaching collection provides five approaches for embedding OER in learning and teaching.
Feature image from openaccessweek.org.