Instructions for Participants of the Open Education and Open Science E-Course

E-course Structure:

Thematic unit: The Concept of Openness and the Development of Open Access

In the theoretical part of this unit, participants will become familiar with the concepts of open education and open science, with particular emphasis on their importance for the development of higher education and research. Participants will also explore the prepared book, assigned external sources, and a video lesson covering the concept of a culture of openness, as well as the analysis of relevant national and European policies, documents, guidelines, and declarations shaping this field. Challenges in the development of open access will also be discussed, including complex identifiers and identification systems essential for resource discovery and access. Finally, the information infrastructure and examples of repositories forming the foundation for open access will be presented. Participants will study the prepared external sources, book, and video lesson; a quiz is also an integral part of this unit.

In the practical part, participants will create either a single unified or two separate SWOT analyses for open science and open education for their institution, analysing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and submit the task to Loomen as a document or presentation. The task should be prepared based on the studied external sources, the book, and the participants’ own knowledge and experience. Participants will also discuss the development and challenges of open access, declarations, identifiers, and identification systems, as well as examples of good practice in the Forum.

Thematic unit: Open Scientific Publications and Research Data

In this theme, participants will study external sources, the book, and a video lesson to familiarise themselves with topics such as ensuring open access to scientific publications, open peer review, open metadata, and open source for open access. Practically, participants will select a dataset, research, code, or another resource and make it publicly available following the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), which are essential for effective open access to data.

Thematic unit: Copyright and Licenses

In the theoretical part, participants will gain a detailed overview of copyright relevant to higher education staff in the context of open science and open education. The aim is to enable participants to understand the legal framework so they can share and use educational and scientific materials openly while fully respecting authors' rights. Issues regarding copyright when using others' materials in teaching and research will be clarified, as well as the rights of authors over their own works in the context of open access to publications and data. Furthermore, the role of licences will be explained, with a focus on Creative Commons (CC) licences as a key tool for promoting openness. Various types of CC licences, their characteristics, and implications for sharing and reusing materials will be explored. Participants must study the materials in the form of a book, external literature, and the prepared video lessons.

In the practical part, participants will learn how to correctly apply open access principles and CC licences when using existing materials and preparing or publishing their own works. As part of the practical task, participants will protect a total of two examples or contents with licences. One piece of content must be created on the topic of openness in education and science (PPT, image, video, document, etc.) and protected with a CC licence of choice. For the second example, participants can use existing content and protect it with an appropriate licence. Documents must be submitted for evaluation with an explanation of the chosen licence. Self-assessment quizzes and discussions on these topics are also part of this unit.

Thematic unit: Open Education

In the theoretical part, participants will explore open educational resources (OER) and their use in instructional design. This includes a review of a lesson-formatted resource containing an introduction to open education, OER itself, and recommendations or documents produced by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC EC). Participants will also review book-formatted resources regarding the use of OER in teaching design and creation, as well as materials on open digital badges and open distance learning systems.

In the practical part, participants will design and describe one teaching activity for their subject or level that integrates open education principles. Synchronous sessions in a virtual room will allow discussion and support. Peer review will be applied, with participants evaluating colleagues' activities based on defined criteria and a rubric. Participants will also design a concept for an open digital badge to recognise specific skills or achievements, with the option of using generative AI. During synchronous classes, they will present their badges and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using AI in content creation.

Thematic unit: Open Science

In the theoretical part, participants will study materials on open science and open research infrastructure, external sources, and watch a video lesson on open research data, the benefits of open science, policies, and initiatives such as the Croatian Science Cloud (HRZOO).

In the practical part, participants will design a short research project or proposal based on the analysis and reuse of an existing, publicly available open research dataset. The focus is on how this data can be used to pose new research questions. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss task preparation with the instructor in a virtual room for guidance.

Thematic unit: Implementation of Open Education and Science into Strategic Documents

In the theoretical part, participants will review book-formatted and external lesson-formatted resources regarding the importance of strategic planning and the implementation of open access into institutional policies. This includes strategic elements, methods for introducing openness into strategies at all levels, and examples of open access policies and guidelines.

In the practical part, participants will work in teams of two or three from the same institution to define the structure and describe the basic elements of an institutional open education and science policy. They will create a proposal for strategic elements to be included in their institution's documents and present these proposals in the virtual room to the instructor and peers for grading.