Journeys to open educational practice

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1914076277/sizes/m/

JISC has released “Journeys to Open Educational Practice: UKOER/SCORE Review FinalReport, A cumulative evaluation and synthesis of the entire HEFCE fundedintervention in OER”. It makes for interesting reading. Much of the report should be of interest to potential authors preparing proposals for our Book: Open Learning and Formal Credentialing in Higher Education: Curriculum Models and Institutional Policies. In particular, the definition and description of  “open practice” is of use. It was great to see the following recommendation that the focus be placed on “open education practice” instead of EORs:

Focus on open educational practice rather than solely on OER, viewing these as part of the wider fields of new academic practices or digital literacy (we mean this in a broad sense – not just skill sets). This includes the need to embrace more radical responses to the disruptive drivers affecting higher and Further education, which offer significant learning opportunities

However, it would have been great to see explicit mention made in in the Learning and Teaching Recommendations, that “open education practices” be expanded to include “recognition practices” (a term being promoted by our Book). The report acknowledges the “wider area of new academic literacies” and from our perspective this includes literacies associated with recognition. Open education practices, in the context of HE, need to be seen as moving forward hand-in-hand with recognition – not an afterthought.