The national policy and measures on open learning and learning materials consist of two parts (in Finnish only):

• Guideline 1 – Open access to learning materials (2020) and
• Guideline 2 – On open learning and teaching practices (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies).

The HAMK guidelines have also been developed with the help of

• Practical Guidelines on Open Education for Academics: modernisaizing higher education via open educational practices (Inamorado dos Sanos, 2019)
• Draft Recommendation on Open Educational resources (Unesco, 2019)
• Library of Open Educations resources (aoe.fi)
• Digivisio 2030 project (Digivisio 2030)

Definitions

Opening up learning or Open Education refers to widening access and participation in learning to wider audiences and target groups by lowering barriers to learning and increasing its accessibility, provision and learner centredness. It diversifies opportunities for teaching, learning, knowledge creation, co-creation and sharing, and links formal and non-formal learning pathways. Open learning is not the same as digital learning or the digitalization of teaching or learning materials.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials or information in any format and on any medium, designed for teaching and learning purposes, which are

• released for public use (Public Domain) or
• distributed under an open license that gives non-authors the right to access, reuse, reapply, modify and redistribute free of charge.

In addition, open learning material is considered to be pedagogically meaningful and usable entity for learning..

Open Educational Practices (OEP) are practices that make learning and teaching transparent, shareable and replicable. Examples of such practices include: 

• peer learning and teaching development between students, researchers and teaching staff and the rest of society.
• involving students in planning their learning pathways, including the identification and recognition of competences acquired outside the institution.
• opening up learning opportunities to a wide audience (e.g. MOOCs).
• sharing and further use of materials related to the planning and organization of teaching (e.g. curricula, assessment methods, guidelines, experiences of teaching and learning).
• use, further development and co-development of open learning materials (e.g. videos, podcasts, written materials).

HAMK’s open learning principles

HAMK is committed to promoting the principles of open learning and teaching, in cooperation with national and international actors. Guidance and support is provided in a multi-professional collaboration, coordinated by tki-tuki(at)hamk.fi.

1. We require accessibility of learning materials.
   1. We offer support, training and guidance on the selection and preparation of accessible material.
2. We recommend the use of open learning materials in teaching.
   1. We offer support, training and guidance on finding and using open learning materials.
3. We recommend that staff open the learning materials.
   1. We provide support, training and guidance on licensing, openness and how to implement it in practice (e.g. tools and recommended sharing sites).
   2. We communicate open learning materials and related practices within the organization and to partners and the wider public nationally and internationally.
4. We recommend licensing open learning materials under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0. The recommended format for the license is e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0 HAMK [author name]. For more information on CC licenses and how to choose the appropriate license, see Creative Commons Finnish web page (in Finnish)
5. We recommend using the national Library of open educational resources to open learning materials.
6. We recommend that you publish your teaching videos on the HAMK video sharing service (Kaltura).
7. The person who opens the teaching and learning material is responsible for the ethics of the material they open and for ensuring the necessary copyright and data protection.
   1. Before opening the material, please make sure that you have the rights of authorship and ownership of the material in order. All authors of the material, including students, must agree to open the material.
   2. Plan the opening of the learning material in advance: what (whole course, lecture notes, presentation material, etc.) where, how and under what conditions the learning material or part of it will be opened.
8. Work on making learning and learning materials more open is valued in the merit criteria and in the design of assignments.
   1. Accessibility badges (intra) are part of HAMK’s competence tree.
   2. The open learning materials label is part of the HAMK competence tree.
   3. In recruitment, a willingness to produce open learning material is valued.
   4. Learning material designed and produced for shared use is, by definition, open.
9. In principle, the learning material produced by the projects is open and this openness is agreed and made visible already at the application stage.

When designing open learning materials, check the national guidelines for open learning (Open Learning Working Groups, Scientific Society Delegation)

• How to account for the quality in open learning resources?
• How to account for the accessibility of open learning resources?
• How to account for copyright when publishing open education resources?
• How to gain merit from open education?
• What should prompter of open education be able to do?

See also