The National Resource Hub, a searchable collection of open educational resources (OER) for teaching and learning from across the Irish higher education sector was launched today. The development of the National Resource Hub was led by theNational Forum in consultation with the sector and represents the further implementation of the National Forum’s overall commitment to open educational practices that will enable the continued sharing of teaching and learning resources in a sustainable way.
The academically-led Board of the National Forum provides strategic guidance, oversight and leadership to the Forum in pursuit of its vision and mission. It comprises representatives of the broad spectrum of stakeholders in Irish higher education, including students, academics, senior managers, policymakers and representative bodies.
All resources developed as part of National Forum-funded initiatives are required to be openly licensed, to facilitate sharing and reuse. To support this open practice, the National Forum developed the Open Licensing Toolkit (2019), the How to Choose an Open Licence guide (2020), and the online resource ‘Using OER and OEP in Teaching and Learning (2021), all available at Teaching and Learning.ie. The National Forum also aims to model open practice by sharing all National Forum resources openly (using Creative Commons CC BY licences).
The resource hub will enable resources developed through the Strategic Alignment Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund 2019 and 2020 to be shared across the sector. The hub will also facilitate the sharing of OER in Irish higher education allowing good practice and resources developed by one initiative to be adapted and shared by others.
The National Forum Strategy 2019-21 aims to channel the substantial progress of the past six years, strengthen collaborative relationships within and beyond the Irish higher education sector, and provide leadership and guidance for the continued enhancement of teaching and learning in Irish higher education, for the benefit of all.
The National Forum will consolidate progress to date and focus on four key strategic priorities.
- Professional Development of all who Teach
- Teaching and Learning in a Digital World
- Teaching and Learning Enhancement Within and Across disciplines
- Student Success
The National Resource Hub can have an important impact on all four of these. A particularly positive effect is experienced by students and the success that they can be helped to achieve.
According to the National Forum website, a student success toolkit is available to drive the ambition of developing “a vision of success, in partnership with students, with the aim of providing all students with the opportunity to fulfil their potential and become creators of new knowledge who are community engaged, ethically conscious, professionally competent and equipped to flourish in a global world”.
The toolkit outlines a systematic process for embedding the continuous enhancement of student success. It includes resources to enable institutions to take stock of how student success is currently embedded in their institution, and to identify what currently works well and what needs to be developed further. It challenges institutions to consider the impact of all potential policies, practices and actions on all staff and students. It encourages conversations, debates and planning of how best to embed student success in a sustainable way across all functional areas of the institution.
The toolkit identifies a process for embedding student success revolving around Seven Cs: Commit, Collaborate, Community, Consensus, Communicate, Connect and Continuing.
The important best practice initiative of the launch of The National Resource Hub, is set to be a game changer in teaching and learning n Ireland for decades to come.
