Establishing an Open Education Community of Practice at a Bilingual University: Year 1 Reflections

Abstract

This lighting talk explores some of the challenges and benefits that we encountered during the first year of establishing an Open Education Community of Practice (CoP) at the University of Ottawa. The creation of an Open Education CoP builds on the recommendations from a cross-campus working group on open and affordable learning materials. The group found that while the campus had pockets of innovation, the larger university community lacked a cohesive vision for the use, creation, and dissemination of OER. Meant to be a vehicle for awareness building, information sharing, and support, the CoP is also meant to lay the foundation for a culture of open pedagogy. After careful planning, the Open Education CoP met for the first time in October 2021. It has been an enriching experience with some notable benefits, including participation from students and the university press, and hearing from OER champions on campus and elsewhere. The CoP also faced its share of technical, linguistic and strategic challenges, ranging from competing priorities and content hosting to conducting activities in two languages and the limits of "openness".