Hi all:
This is CARL's budget statement on OER from Feb 9th, 2024. We are planning to have our pre-budget submissions submitted by mid-July (July 12th) and can share what we have changed then. We are going to be revising our ask to acknowledge some changes regarding
Indigenous OER and Francophone funding advocacy.
Federal Support for Canadian Open Educational Resources (OER)
Academic libraries recognize that the use of OER in educational contexts provides numerous benefits to both students and instructors. The cost of textbooks and other course materials can present major financial hurdles for students. With textbooks costing
students between $800-$1,000 per year, some students are forced to make difficult financial choices, especially now with inflation and cost of living increases.3 For post-secondary students and faculty, the primary benefit of OER is access to cost free learning
materials, as well as access to online resources that are created with pedagogical innovation in mind. Investment in OER has repeatedly been found to produce savings for students and their families: estimated student savings from British Columbia exceed $31.5
million, and eCampus Ontario notes an average of $101 in savings for each student for each course they take that uses an OER. While we recognize that education is largely a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, CARL and other post-secondary education stakeholders
believe there remains an important responsibility for the federal government to foster national initiatives to support OER. As a founding UNESCO member, Canada is responsible for upholding and advancing the principles outlined in the UNESCO Recommendation
on OER (UNESCO, 2019). It calls for building supportive policies for OER, which happens most effectively at the federal level.
We propose that a federal commitment to OER be administered through several federal departments or agencies in a funding cycle of a three-year pilot funding:
● A $10M pilot program to foster OER creation and enable deployment of common production and discovery infrastructure, administered through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on behalf of the tri-agencies.
● An additional $10M for Indigenous OER to 1) build capacity for Indigenous communities to develop their own OER, including Indigenous language materials, administered by Indigenous Services Canada; and 2) develop OER related to Truth and Reconciliation,
relevant to both Indigenous and non Indigenous Canadian settlers, administered by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
● Out of the existing $1.4B allocated to the Action Plan for Official Languages: 2023-20284 , earmark $10M under the pillar “Promoting Lifelong Learning Opportunities” to support bilingual OER and the advancement of Official languages, administered by
Canadian Heritage.
Recommendation: Provide new funding of $20M divided into two $10M funding initiatives spread over three years through targeted federal agencies, to foster increased production and use of Open Educational Resources in post-secondary education. In
addition, assign $10M of the $1.4B already allocated to the Action Plan for Official Languages: 2023-2028 to support bilingual OER and the advancement of Official Languages.
3 “Budgeting for student life,” Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
https://bit.ly/3eV1J5C, and “Fixing The Broken Textbook Market,” 2nd ed. 2020,
https://bit.ly/3kqxYL6
Thanks
Ann
On Thu, Jun 27, 2024 at 1:00 PM Canada Open Education Resources <canadaoer@lists.bccampus.ca> wrote:
I certainly don't have any real evidence as to which approach would be better (it is an excellent research question, but no one has really studied the federal pre-budget consultation process in a great amount of detail). I do think, given the summer, it may be easier to go the second route - have a few key asks and invite individuals and organizations to sign on. I think coordinating through each organization at this point is probably too complicated.
In that regard, are there any logical starting points. I believe CARL has asked for $30 million total, $10 each for policy & infrastructure, Indigenous OER and francophone OER. Is this a potential starting point? Are there any other ideas? We can use the Framework document to anchor all of our asks as it has much of the justification written up.
_______________________________________________On Tue, Jun 25, 2024 at 8:46 AM Canada Open Education Resources <canadaoer@lists.bccampus.ca> wrote:
_______________________________________________This is a great idea Michael and I really appreciate you being alert to (and sharing) this opportunity. Do you have a sense of which of the two approaches that you propose would carry more weight?
Cheers,
Rajiv
Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning
Brock University
Niagara Region | 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way | St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1
e rjhangiani@brocku.ca | w brocku.ca
Executive Assistant: Lara Martin e lmartin7@brocku.ca
My working hours might vary substantially from yours. Please do not feel any pressure or obligation to respond to messages outside of your working hours.
Brock University is located on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe peoples, many of whom continue to live and work here today. The territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties and is within the land protected by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Agreement. Today these lands are the home to many First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and acknowledging them reminds us that our great standard of living is directly related to the resources and friendship of Indigenous people.
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