Collaboration
Values Based Approaches to Evidence for OER Advocacy
University of Southern Queensland
Emilia C. Bell; Nikki Andersen; and Dr Adrian Stagg
Overview
Data collection to support open education is often viewed as a stage of institutional maturity, and concentrates on evidence aligned with student success and equity (Colvard, Watson, & Park, 2018). Cost savings versus traditional commercial textbooks, number of student users, and downloads are all used by advocates to demonstrate the value of open education initiatives, usually in forms of advocacy (such as securing resources to continue programs). Increasingly, student achievement data is collected, linking the access and authenticity of open educational resources (OER) access and authenticity to improvement in academic performance (Tlili et al., 2023). However, in most cases, the platforms and infrastructure supporting data collection and presentation are determined without including those whose experience the data represents, or purportedly benefits.
At the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) Library, open educational practice (OEP) is built on a community of practitioners who contribute and feel empowered to share their practice. ‘Practitioner’ refers to “any staff member engaged with OEP (whether enacting OEP in teaching and learning directly with students, or providing direct support for OEP such as that provided by academic librarians, learning designers, and Copyright officers)” (Stagg, 2023, p. 3). This community-based approach aligns with the values-based approach that the Library’s Evidence Based Practice team takes to encourage agency in open narratives (Bell et al., 2023a). The UniSQ Library’s use of data and dashboards to demonstrate the value of OER and support ongoing evaluation empowers open textbook authors, giving agency to advocate for open education and share practices.
Dashboards and institutional reporting do not often provide space for relational approaches; however, UniSQ Library achieves this through intentional data practices that centers and elevates people. Such a relational approach situates the university in its community and helps to position open education advocacy in its greater social context, recognising relationships and interdependencies that are dynamic and impact how our practices evolve (Lacković & Olteanu, 2024). In taking a relational approach, shared community values are realised and highlight the ’why’ of being open and evidence-based (Bell et al., 2023b). Being both evidence- and values-based places evidence and values as complementary – they exist in partnership (Fulford, 2008; Stoyanov et al., 2020). Values-based practice emphasises that decision-making needs to consider “preferences, needs, hopes, [and] expectations” (Fulford, 2008, p. 10) alongside evidence.
Using this case study
This case study is beneficial for library staff, academics, and open education practitioners. Readers will:
- Develop their understanding of how evidence-b