Policies & Procedures

I.  PURPOSE

In pursuance of Virginia Code § 23.1-1308, Longwood University has developed this policy. The Code of Virginia states: The governing board of each public institution of higher education shall implement guidelines for the adoption and use of low-cost and no-cost open educational resources in courses offered at such institution. Such guidelines may include provisions for low-cost commercially published materials.

Longwood University encourages the creation, use, adaptation, sharing and ongoing maintenance of OER materials in accordance with established curriculum standards for educational purposes. The goals of this policy are to provide students with high quality learning materials that are openly licensed to augment and/or replace costly textbooks and course materials, to create sustainable academic resources for students, faculty, and staff, and to provide opportunities for professional growth of faculty and staff.

This policy provides guidance to faculty in achieving the following outcomes through the utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER) at Longwood University improve student success through increased access and affordability, and improve teaching efficiency and effectiveness through the ability to focus, analyze, augment, and evolve course materials directly aligned to course learning outcomes. Faculty will be supported in their participation with OER to achieve both of the stated outcomes.

II.  DEFINITIONS

Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely and publicly available teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.^[1]

III.  POLICY

Longwood University will provide training, support, and encourage recognition of OER use, adaptation, and creation as a meaningful scholarly and professional endeavor.

IV. PROCEDURE

As subject matter experts, faculty are responsible for selecting, adapting or creating OER in alignment with course learning outcomes.

The institution’s intellectual property (IP) and copyright policies, (FPPM) governs rights and requirements for works created during the course of employment, including ownership, open licensing, and public release.

Faculty or staff who create original content that is incorporated into an OER course or create OER of other types or formats are encouraged to use the least restrictive license possible, such as a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) (or equivalent for software.)

Academic Affairs oversees the policy and is responsible for compliance. As members of the Academic Affairs team, a Greenwood Library representative and a DEC representative shall be responsible for developing and maintaining procedures and providing training that are consistent with this policy and that comply with applicable regulations, policies, and procedures of the institution, and the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Administration and management efforts shall include advocating for the creation of OER to be recognized as a meaningful scholarly and professional endeavor.

Faculty, staff, and students using, adapting, and creating OER are responsible for obtaining permission for incorporating student created works into OER or an OER course.

Approved by Faculty Senate, February 14, 2019
Approved by the Board of Visitors, March 22, 2019

¹ Hewlett Foundation. Open Education Resources, Web. 28 January 2019. http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education/open-educational-resources