OKHE1: My exposure to open knowledge in higher education, issues encountered, and actions taken
Tag: OKHE1
Introduction: For the past few years, I have been employed as a research staffer under a research-only contract in higher education (HE). Initially, my understanding of ‘open’ was largely confined to ‘open research’. However, my perspective significantly expanded upon enrolling in the Open Knowledge (OK) in Higher Education (OKHE) module. Within the context of OK, definition version 2.1 of ‘open’ states, “Knowledge is open if anyone is free to access, use, modify, and share it — subject, at most, to measures that preserve provenance and openness.” [1].
The recommended literature for this module introduced me to three distinct aspects of open knowledge: ‘open teaching’, ‘open research’, and ‘open practices’. While each of these three dimensions is multifaceted, and while they can be examined separately, I have observed overlaps within my professional activities. For instance, open teaching material/resources can be created using research findings published in scientific journals; and open practices can be followed in the administration and management of both teaching- and research-related operational activities within HE.
In this brief blog post (OKHE1), I aim to draw upon my own experiences to shed light on two out of these three aspects of open knowledge, namely, open teaching and open research. Additionally, I will explore how they relate to broader OK-related issues within a wider HE context. I will address the third aspect, i.e., ‘open practices’, in a subsequent blog post (OKHE2), providing a more detailed examination of its nuances and implications.
Open Teaching: Open teaching is one aspect of open education [2] that I actively practice.
I have had limited lecturing experience in HE despite my role as a module tutor. However, to compensate for this, I have taken to creating numerous educational Wikipedia entries and YouTube videos. These endeavours allow me to openly share and promote new knowledge derived from my scientific papers within my areas of expertise. Without a formal teaching contract with the university, I find it more straightforward to produce and disseminate educational materials on social media platforms, making them freely accessible to the public. Since I am not employed by the university to teach, I can reasonably assume that the teaching materials I created and shared are not the university’s intellectual property as I have no teaching responsibilities. Therefore, I proceed to share the knowledge on social media without the need for university permission or consent. Furthermore, the content within these materials primarily originates from published works available under the CC BY license, a type of Creative Commons license that facilitates the legal sharing and utilisation of creative content [3-4].
Under the CC BY license, users are permitted to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, provided they attribute it to the creator. This license also allows for commercial use. By adhering to the principles of the CC BY license, I am actively promoting the 5 R’s framework [5], which encourages content to be retained, reused, revised, remixed and redistributed by the content users. Using this approach, I hope to foster broader access to knowledge and promote collaborative learning in alignment with open education principles.
Open Research: Open research encompasses various practices aimed at enhancing the accessibility and transparency of scholarly work. This includes sharing code on platforms like GitHub [6], making data available to facilitate result reproducibility, and publishing scientific papers under a Creative Commons (CC) license, often through the Gold Open Access (GOA) model offered by various scientific journals.
The GOA model involves authors paying article processing charges (APCs) to journals, enabling their work to be freely accessible by the public under a CC BY license [7].
I came to appreciate the significance of the GOA model during my tenure as a Researcher at Residence (i.e., as a self-employed researcher for five years), where I faced challenges accessing research behind paywalls while working on unfunded/unpaid research projects or while transitioning between positions. The financial burden of accessing each article hindered my research progress. Other researchers have experienced the same issues in the past [8].
Consequently, I resolved to publish all my research in journals supporting open access (OA). Since I was conducting unfunded/unpaid research from home, I collaborated with co-authors from institutions covered by Jisc membership to cover the APCs. However, I had to give up being the corresponding author of many of these manuscripts (four scientific papers and one letter to the editor) while I was a self-employed researcher. Upon joining the University of Manchester (UoM), I received support from UoM to cover the APCs for two of my first-authored papers, allowing me to serve as the corresponding author on the research papers based on unfunded/unpaid research I did from home. These papers were published in Frontiers in Endocrinology [9] and Medical Physics (Wiley’s) journal [10], thanks to agreements between UoM and the publishers.
Since much of the research conducted in HE is funded by charities and government organisations, there is apprehension regarding models like green access (where authors pay no publishing fee but readers pay to access the article, with the fee contingent on the journal’s reputation) and the GOA model, both of which entail payment to the publisher. This raises a concern that publishers ultimately profit from research dissemination which was mainly conducted using public funds in the first place. However, it is important to recognise that the GOA model facilitates global public access to knowledge, making it a more financially prudent option overall.
For instance, consider a scenario where a manuscript is published under the green access model in a journal and is accessed 3,000 times, with each user paying, let’s say, £30 for accessing the article — these users will largely be other researchers, likely funded by similar/same public funds. The total cost to access the article amounts to £90,000. Conversely, if the same manuscript was published under the GOA model, where authors pay an APC of £10,000, there would be a significant saving of £80,000 in public funds from just one published manuscript. Moreover, the GOA model ensures that any members of the public (not only researchers) around the globe can access the resource, further underscoring its cost-effectiveness and broader accessibility.
Therefore, by publishing under the GOA model, I aim to maximise the impact of my scientific output by ensuring accessibility to the general public (including non-researchers and researchers) worldwide [11], especially those in low-income countries [12] where access to research articles is often restricted due to financial constraints. This aligns with the principles of OA, promoting equity and inclusivity in scholarly communication.
In conclusion, my journey through the world of OK in HE has shown me how important it is to make learning and research accessible to everyone. Whether it is sharing teaching materials openly or publishing research for anyone to read, being open helps us learn and discover more together. As I spend more time within the HE environment, I see that being open is not just a good idea — it is essential for making sure everyone can learn and grow irrespective of their circumstances. By sharing what we know and by working together, we make education better for everyone. That is what HE is all about: helping people and making the world a smarter, better place.
References:
[1]https://opendefinition.org/od/2.1/en/
[2]https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4301
[3]https://creativecommons.org/share-yourwork/cclicenses/
[4]https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.en
[5]https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221
[6]https://medium.com/open-knowledge-in-he/okhe1-890181a6f0c5
