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Appendix Nine:
Skills Requirements for Work in
Open Educational Resources
Below is a list of the core skills that institutions will need to develop in order to make most effective use of Open Educational Resources to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of OER:
Expertise in advocacy and promotion of OER as a vehicle for improving the quality of learning and teaching in education (having a good grasp of both conceptual and practical issues, policy implications, and so on). This requires:
- Passion about the concept of openness, without which any attempts at advocacy are unlikely to succeed;
- Ability to engage audiences effectively during presentations;
- Understanding of the pros and cons of different open licensing arrangements, combined with insight into how most current policy environments constrain use of OER and open licensing of intellectual capital (with a particular focus on the challenges of persuading educational decision-makers in environments where Intellectual Property policies make no provision for open licensing);
- Clarity on the economic benefits of OER, both in terms of marketing institutions, programmes, and individuals and in cost-effectiveness of materials production;
- Sound knowledge of practical examples of use of OER to illustrate key points;
- Up-to-date knowledge of the arguments for and against use of OER;
- Capacity to engage in argument and respond to the questions that people will inevitably pose given the extent to which OER challenges many entrenched conceptual frameworks.
Legal expertise to be able to:
- Advise people on licensing of materials;
- Review current copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes;
- Develop and adapt copyright and IPR policies;
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