„Open Access and other “O’s” – A topic for teaching!“
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Open Access is usually discussed in connection with the publication of research results. However, Open Access is also a relevant topic in university teaching beyond publishing. A new advisory service at TIB understands openness as a comprehensive principle of working as a scholar and demonstrates the possibilities of Open Access materials in (internationalized) teaching.
Openness means free, unrestricted access to knowledge and collaborative work and is discussed in the teaching context under the term Open Education (Bossu & Heck 2020). Since the early 2000s, digital technologies and license models such as Creative Commons have fundamentally changed the use of teaching materials. Open education goes beyond legal issues and stands for a cultural change in academic self-image: research and teaching are thought of more closely together, democratic values such as transparency, equality, critical thinking and openness are specifically conveyed to students (de Knecht et al. 2021).
A manifesto from Utrecht University in the Netherlands identifies four dimensions of open education: 1. open educational resources, 2. open science skillset, 3. an open science mindset and 4. incentives for implementation and recognition. In the following, I will use my consulting experience in the context of the European University Alliance EULiST to show how such a change can be fostered in a value-based and pragmatic way.
Open Educational Resources (OER), i.e. freely licensed and therefore easily reusable teaching materials, are an important aspect of the reorganization of university teaching in the direction of openness. They include videos, textbooks or entire (self-study) courses. In teaching practice, depending on the discipline, academic articles in academic journals or conference papers are also used as teaching materials, as the visualisation shows. This means that whether teaching materials are „educational“ depends solely on their use and not their form (Rzadkowski 2025).
From my own perspective as a lecturer in sociology, the difference between open access and OER is also blurred in teaching practice. The VeStor project at LUH shows that law textbooks that are available in open access are used in teaching as OER, as well as in legal practice as open access reference works.
Open science includes free access to publications (open access), data (open data), educational materials (OER), software and hardware, but also procedures such as open peer review and citizen science. All of these aspects can become relevant in teaching and require corresponding competences from teaching staff. In project- or research-orientated courses, research data serves as learning material. In flipped classroom formats or hybrid teaching, freely licensed software is helpful for collaborative work. In MOOCs, open access materials are essential (Gadd et al. 2019).
Students should therefore be familiarized with open science principles – for example as part of measures on general information literacy. This teaches them how to deal with paywalls or how to use manuscript versions of articles. If they have to produce their own materials, such as videos in the seminar, open source software and freely licensed material offer students legally compliant and free options.
Open access and other open science practices are not an end in themselves, but a means of solving specific didactic and legal challenges. Teachers do not pursue principles of openness solely out of institutional duty, but in line with their goals and their self-image as teachers. For example, a course can become more accessible if lectures are recorded and made available as OER so that students can learn at their own pace. Open access publications enable the legally compliant use of entire texts – for example in reading courses – and thus promote in-depth access to academic literature that is not dependent on ones purse.
This is a way to develop an open science mentality as teachers and, in the spirit of the authors of the Utrecht Manifesto, to pass it on to students. By discussing open science, students can acquire knowledge about the practical working conditions in the academic system. The critical reflection on the role of science and scientists in society that goes hand in hand with this is then more strongly integrated into teaching – an aspect that has so far often only played a subordinate role in university curricula. The lecture „Das Geschäft mit wissenschaftlichen Informationen“, which will take place on 7 November as part of the first semester events of the General Student Committee of LUH, will also attempt to fill this gap.
Compared to publishing in Open Access, the use of open practices in teaching has so far received little attention and recognition from the academic system. However, its concrete benefits become apparent in the context of international university cooperation programs such as the European University Alliance EULiST: Students should be able to take courses flexibly throughout Europe – even without formal enrolment at the respective university. However, access to literature, learning platforms or course materials often fails due to the legal and infrastructural hurdles associated with closed access publishing.
Open educational resources (OER) and open access materials offer a solution here, as they are location-independent, legally compliant and freely accessible. This can also reduce structural inequalities between partner universities. Openness can save resources, for example when continuing education programs are reused across universities. One example: the course „Navigating the World of Open Access Publishing“, offered by TU Wien and LUH, is open to early-career researchers from all EULiST partners – uncomplicated and without barriers. The counselling service on openness in teaching in the EULiST project was also received positively – a first step towards more institutional recognition for open education.
A Flexible and Individual Advisory Service
The counselling service on openness in teaching atTIB takes a broad and individual approach, as outlined here. Firstly, the direction in which a specific course should be developed is worked out together with the lecturers. Based on this, concrete suggestions are made on how to incorporate openness as a topic in their own teaching and/or how to use freely licensed teaching materials. In doing so, I draw on the broad landscape of existing offers and services ofTIB on the subject of OER (twillo) and Open Access (B!SON, AV Portal, repositories). This shows that openness in teaching can play an undogmatic and pragmatic role as a means to an end in the further development of digital and international university teaching. The TIB contributes to this cultural change with its advisory services.
References
Bossu, Carina, und Tamara Heck. 2020. „Special Issue: Engaging with Open Science in Learning and Teaching“. Education for Information 36 (3): 211–25. https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-200386.
Gadd, Elizabeth, Chris Morrison, und Jane Secker. 2019. „The Impact of Open Access on Teaching—How Far Have We Come?“ Publications 7 (3): 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7030056.
Knecht, Sicco de, Martijn van der Meer, Loek Brinkman, Manon Kluijtmans, und Frank Miedema. 2021. „RESHAPING THE ACADEMIC SELF CONNECTING EDUCATION & OPEN SCIENCE“. Utrecht University. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5345573
Rzadkowski, Nora. 2025. „Same Same or Different? OER und juristische Fachdidaktik“. In Von Open Access zu Open Science, herausgegeben von Nikolas Eisentraut und Maximilian Petras. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748950318-89.
Featured image: Curriculum Development by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
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