Guidelines on the Development of Open Educational Resources Policies

Open educational resources (OER) – and to a greater extent, OER policies – can increase the quality and accessibility of teaching and learning as well as foster knowledge creation within a country.
This publication provides detailed guidelines on how to develop systematic and effective policies on OER. Such policies are important to coordinate, strengthen and drive initiatives in a country; they involve government and institution actors on various levels working together to leverage OER toward achieving common goals under a national educational framework. OER policy provisions can be a part of a dedicated national masterplan, be under the framework of an overall education programme, or be elements incorporated into various strategies across multiple sectors.
These guidelines lay out steps to review, analyse, develop, implement and monitor a context-relevant OER policy. They guide, but do not determine, what involved actors should do in a specific set of circumstances, providing a comprehensive framework for governments and institutions to set out vision and the scope of their policy.
Each chapter introduces the purpose of the phase, provides background information and references practical examples for illustration. At the end of each chapter, specific tasks are set for the policy designer, which will help with the formulation of the final OER policy.