We’re delighted to announce that the University of Edinburgh has been awarded OE Global’s Open Policy Award as part of the 2021 OE Excellence Awards.  This award recognises

Creation, adoption and implementation of an open policy, legislation or mandate. A policy with a clear impact of public investment in the development of open knowledge through the efficient use and reuse of resources for the public good.

In keeping with the University of Edinburgh’s commitment to open education and open knowledge, the University has created, adopted, and shared a suite of influential open licensed education policies and guidelines to benefit institutions across the Higher Education sector.  These open policies are based on a significant body of research and consultation and represent a considered and timely response to changing circumstances in digital education. In addition to providing guidance for the University of Edinburgh’s own staff and students, by sharing these policies under open license they helped institutions across the UK and beyond to respond to the challenges of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OER policy, originally approved in 2016 and updated in 2021, reused and adapted elements from existing OER policies from other institutions.  It reflects the University of Edinburgh’s mission to discover knowledge and make the world a better place and encourages staff and students to create OERs to enhance the quality of the student experience and provide learning opportunities for all.

The Lecture Recording policy (2019) was created following an extensive programme of internal and external research and consultation.  It resolves ambiguity around personal data in recordings and clearly assigns intellectual property rights to their original holders, who in turn agree that recordings may be used for clearly defined purposes.

Learning Analytics Principles and Purposes (2017) governs the University’s use of student data, which should be ethical, transparent and for the purpose of enhancing the student experience.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the framework provided by these open policies enabled the University to rapidly adapt its existing principles to accommodate classes delivered entirely online.  In response to the online pivot, a Virtual Classroom Policy and accompanying Digital Citizenship Guide, were created, and shared at a critical time for the Higher Education sector.