Open Educational Resources (OER) at SFU
Broadly speaking, open education is a teaching philosophy and movement that aims to make education more affordable, accessible and flexible for all learners via the use of open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy.
Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning resources created with the intention of being freely accessible to all. Most are developed by expert educators, and are covered by Creative Commons (CC) licenses that permit users to reuse, remix, and share their content. Examples include open textbooks, course readings, learning modules, educational games, videos, quizzes, or even entire courses.
Open pedagogy, also known as open educational practices (OEP), refers to a set of innovative teaching approaches and methods made possible through the use of OER in the classroom. In practice, this involves the design and delivery of learning activities and experiences that invite and empower students to make a meaningful contribution to public discourse and knowledge beyond the classroom. Examples include student projects to publish in open course journals, update and edit Wikipedia entries, publicly annotate online course readings, or create and share video tutorials or digital exhibits for their classes.
SFU’s Commitment to Open Education & OER
In June 2022, SFU Senate endorsed a statement in support of open educational resources (OER) and open education more broadly, developed by SFU Library with support from the OER Working Group and the Senate Committee on University Teaching and Learning (SCUTL).
Check out this 2022 interview with Hope Power, Teaching and Learning Librarian at SFU, on the impact of SFU’s statement in support of open education and OER.
Open Education Grants (OEG) Program Pilot (2022)
In 2022, the Open Education Grants (OEG) pilot, offered by the Institute for the Study of Teaching & Learning in the Disciplines (ISTLD) in collaboration with the Library and Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE), offered faculty funding of up to $5,000 as well as support with researching how implementation of OER and open pedagogy impact teaching and learning. (Note: this program built on lessons learned from a past OER Grants program at SFU that ran from 2016-2019 with funding by the VP Academic in collaboration with SFU Library and the former Teaching & Learning Centre.)
Applications are now closed for the OEG program. For more information, contact Transforming Inquiry Into Teaching & Learning (TILT) at: tilt@sfu.ca
Open Education Events at SFU
Open Education 2019: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU
Interested in the potential of OER and open pedagogy to impact teaching and learning, but not sure how to get started? Hear from SFU instructors, staff, and students in the following three videos from this Open Education event in May 2019:
Session 1 Video - Keynote Talk by Juan Pablo Alperin (Open Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU | May 27, 2019 | SFU Library, Teaching and Learning Centre, Bookstore and BCcampus)
Session 2 Video - Open Education in Action panel (Open Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU | May 27, 2019 | SFU Library, Teaching and Learning Centre, Bookstore and BCcampus)
Session 3 Video - Open Education Showcase (Open Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU | May 27, 2019 | SFU Library, Teaching and Learning Centre, Bookstore and BCcampus)
Open Education 2018: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU
Hear from SFU instructors about how they are using OER in their classrooms in the following two videos from our Open Education event from May 2018:
Session 1 Video - Opening Education: How OER Can Make Education More Accessible and Transformative (Open Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU | May 24, 2018 | SFU Library | Teaching and Learning Centre)
Session 2 Video - Open Education and OER in Action at SFU (Open Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning at SFU | May 24, 2018 | SFU Library | Teaching and Learning Centre)