Copyright

Open and free

The Open Access (OA) and Open Education movements are rooted in the same Open Agenda to capitalize on the sharing capabilities of the internet and the desire make information openly available so that the public may access and use of research and educational materials, respectively. Open in this sense refers to free of cost but it also can apply to licensing and permissions as well. Key to both OA and Open Education are the concepts of access and use of information, both of which can relate to licensing. Let's explore the definitions, purposed, and licensing of the movements and materials to better understand how the movements aim to better support research and learning by circumventing commercial academic publishing. 

Open Access

"By 'open access' to this [research] literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution and the only role for copyright in this domain should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited." -- Budapest Open Access Initiative

The problems: Current research and publishing practices hide research behind paywalls that charge for access, embargos that delay access, or restrictive copyright laws that prevent modern practices as data or text mining. Paradoxically, even though much of the (scientific) research in the United States is publicly funded as a public good and the researchers perform research and editorial duties for free, we all must pay for access to the most recent research, as open access advocate SPARC* explains. Historically researchers and others may have relied upon libraries to provide access to these extortionate journal packages. The unaffordable cost-per-use is forcing libraries to cancel subscriptions. 

The solution: OA aims to balance author's rights to retain their copyright and the need of researchers (and everyone) to access and use research in accordance with today's research practices and technological advancements. By removing embargo periods, sharing any associated data, and licensing research under a Creative Commons or similar open license that allow for text and data mining, research can become immediately available to faculty and students, Creative Commons and other advocates argue. As a result, OA scientific articles are cited more frequently, which increases the impact factor of research for faculty members. In sum, open access makes it easier for faculty and students to research and learn.

Open Education

Open Education encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment. -- SPARC*

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. -- UNESCO

The Problems: The Open Education movement aims to tackle financial and pedagogical problems in higher education. First, with skyrocketing student debt, especially for females and historically under represent groups, open education proponents in a number of states, including Colorado, seek to lower the cost of higher education by making expensive textbooks more affordable. 

The Solution: Like Open Access, Open Education is a global movement to make education more affordable and accessible through a variety of policies that range from university, state, and national goal-setting or regulations (like Colorado's textbook initiatives), teaching practices, and open educational resources. Using OER gives students immediate and perpetual access to their class material. As a result, extensive research has shown OER use positively affects the persistence and academic achievement of students, particularly traditionally marginalized students, and that students perceive OER quality to be the same or better of traditional textbooks. Open education teaching practices, or open pedagogy, allows faculty to provide relevant and practical student-centered learning experiences. In other words, free OER can be immediately accessed and modified or even newly created for a class to make faculty and students partners in more qualitative learning experiences. 

How does open licensing work with OER?  

Key to how OER work is the use of open licenses, such as Creative Commons, according to David Wiley, a leader in the Open Education movement. Through an open license, instructors are able to create and adapt instructional materials specific to their classes, and learners have immediate, perpetual, and free access to their course materials. Win-win. Below Wiley spells out how open licenses permits these educational benefits. 

 Permissions

"Permissions" by Cable Green. CC BY.

Open Access and Open Education, what's the difference? Open licenses

Open licenses, such as Creative Commons (CC), really enable Open Access (OA) research and OER, the products of the OA and Open Education movements. While the lines between OA research and OER can be blurry because the definition relies on the use of the resource. For instance, an OA article might be assigned reading for a course, so it might be both OA research and an OER. However, a strong distinguishing characteristic between the two can be the licensing. 

In the below graphic you can see how licensing restrictions prevent a resource from being an OER. As David Wiley argues, instructors and students must be able to remix, revise, and redistribute OER. Most CC licenses and items in the Public Domain allow for the 5Rs of OER. The NoDerivatives (ND) CC term, however, restricts the 5Rs and automatically discounts anything licensed under ND as an OER. On the other hand, access is the central tenant of OA, which ND does not disrupt, so OA may be licensed under a broader spectrum of licenses. 

"Clarification of Free Cultural Works, Open Educational Resources and Open Access" by Paul G. West. CC BY. 

Note: Free Cultural Works are not discussed in this guide. But are defined as "as works or expressions which can be freely studied, applied, copied and/or modified, by anyone, for any purpose." 

"Open Access and Open Education" by Karna Younger. CC BY.

Sources

"Budapest Open Access Initiative: 15th Anniversary" by Budapest Open Access Initiative. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

"Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources" by David Wiley. CC BY.

"Open Access" by SPARC*. CC BY.

"Open Access Explained!" Animation by Jorge Cham, Narration by Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen, Transcription by Noel Dilworth. CC BY.

"Open Educational Resources" by UNESCO.