Open Licensing as a mechanism for enhancing educational resource development strategy

• In Event: Breaking barriers to equitable education access: The role of open licensing

Proposal

This paper discusses the adoption of open licensing, under the Lifelong Learning (LLL) Project from USAID, as a key action for the development of a literacy teaching and learning resources strategy in early grades. It will present the results, challenges and lessons learned of incorporating Open Licensing in educational quality materials that consider universal design, cultural relevance and gender equity aspects.

Research suggests that one element for successful reading instruction is access to books of different genres and topics. This variable is crucial for students, regardless the amount or quality of instruction (Kamil, 2008). And students who report easy access to books also read more books, independent of background characteristics (Kim, 2004). Access to textbooks and materials may be limited by economic barriers but also by linguistic barriers, particularly in developing countries.

In Guatemala, book printing for children that demand bilingual education faces challenges of availability of resources –budgetary allocation–, fiscal transparency, accountability, and public management efficiency (Icefi & Save the Children , 2011). Other challenges are related to technical capacity, human resources and the time taken for production, editing, validation and publication processes of textbooks and educational materials.

The LLL Project open educational resources (OER) strategy supports the implementation of a Literacy Model in bilingual and intercultural environments. This strategy provides quality educational materials for literacy teaching and learning in L1 and L2 to students from preprimary to third grade and their teachers, principals, and the educational community. LLL Project OER Strategy concurs with the USAID MOSAIC framework, improving classroom teaching and learning in low- and middle-resource countries; and, orienting interventions to produce large-scale improvements in learning outcomes (Evans, Srikantaiah, Pallangyo, Sugrue, & Sitabkhan, 2019).

Licensing and technical aspects have a direct effect on the design, development, publication and distribution of OER (Hilton III, Wiley, Stein, & Johnson, 2010). For that reason, the LLL Project has adopted Creative Commons (CC) Licenses to minimize barriers related to restrictive copyright and incompatible technologies. CC Licenses facilitates that different actors and stakeholders can access use, adapt or redistribute materials as they need. Under LLL Project and the Ministry of Education (MOE), the adoption of CC Licenses has conducted to capacity building in open licensing and OER and to strengthen the OER ecosystem needed for sustainability - stakeholders’ involvement, design of resources, institutionalization, and implementation and use- (Huttner, Green, & Cowher, 2018; Hylén, 2006; Mishra, 2017). A relevant example of this adoption is the strategic consolidation of the Regional Textbooks and Educational Materials Committee that participates in editorial processes and have generate several OER.

The use and implementation of open licensing of the OER strategy has resulted in greater responsiveness in the MOE management printing processes, the adaptation of resources to other local languages, exchange and coordination with related projects in the country, use of quality resources in different formats for greater access, incorporation of resources in different repositories.

Implications of this experience and considerations for future implementations will be discussed and compared to other successful interventions and practices in developing countries.

Author

• María Jose Castillo, Juarez & Associates