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Useful knowledge, competences and skills for effective use of OER in higher education

Below is a 'shopping list' of the knowledge, competences and skills that higher education institutions may wish to develop in order to use OER effectively. This list highlights areas where openness adds value and/or where particular attention is needed. These areas are:

1. Expertise in advocacy and promotion of OER as a vehicle for improving the quality of learning and teaching in education (having a good grasp of both conceptual and practical issues, policy implications, etc). This requires:
   1. Commitment to the concept of openness, without which any attempts at advocacy are unlikely to succeed;
   2. Understanding of the pros and cons of different open licensing arrangements, combined with insight into how most current policy environments constrain the use of OER and open licensing of intellectual capital (with a particular focus on the challenges of persuading educational decision makers in environments where intellectual property policies make no provision for open licensing);
   3. Clarity about the difficult issues associated with using proprietary content in diverse online environments, new media and technology and therefore awareness of the benefits of OER as open resources that are usable, reusable and adaptable with no restrictions;
   4. Clarity about the economic benefits of OER, in terms of marketing institutions and programmes, the cost-effectiveness of materials production, and policies, contracts and grants;
   5. Sound knowledge of practical examples of the use of OER to illustrate key points; and
   6. Up-to-date knowledge of the arguments for and against use of OER.
2. Legal expertise to be able to:
   1. Understand and advise people on how copyright works generally, the nature of copyright licensing and different approaches to the licensing of materials;

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