Developing enabling policies for digital and open teaching and learning

This presentation will share work-in-progress and invite feedback on a new guide and short course supporting the development of enabling policies for digital and open teaching and learning. In 2018, the National Forum published a Guide to Developing Enabling Policies for Digital Teaching and Learning. This guide outlined eight steps in developing enabling policies, with ‘enabling policies’ defined as those which are implementable, situated in practice, and reflective of the institution’s priorities. The guide was designed to assist those developing policies to do so in a way that is mindful of what is important to students, those who teach, and the institution, and also what is achievable in practice. Bringing this work forward in 2019, a series of regional policy workshops was held to provide fora for those engaged in institutional policy development for digital/open teaching and learning to discuss challenges and aims, to explore resources, and to consider approaches relevant to their own contexts. In 2020, the terrain of digital and higher education changed dramatically, and with this came a growing recognition that many existing policies did not sufficiently meet the needs of students, staff and institutions with respect to online teaching, learning and assessment.

In this context, the National Forum renewed its commitment to create updated resources to support those engaged in institutional policy development for digital and open teaching and learning. The broad range of work drawn on for creating these resources include the original National Forum guide (and related research report); outcomes from the regional workshops; examples of good policy practice, national and international; policy research re digital, open and higher education; and engagement with students and staff across the sector. An especially useful resource has been Open Education Policies: Guidelines for co-creation (Atenas, Havemann, Neumann & Stefanelli, 2020). Although the focus of this guide is open education, its approach to policymaking relates to the broader domain of digital and open education, particularly regarding its focus on policy coherence, inclusive and accessible design, capacity building, data governance and privacy, and sustainable infrastructures.

In this session, developers of the National Forum enabling policy guide and course will present the overall concept and outline of the resources currently under development, and authors of ‘Open Education Policies’ will present their work on democratic approaches to policymaking and policy co-creation. Together the presenters will invite feedback from participants regarding developing enabling policies for digital and/or open teaching and learning. The session will be of interest to all in higher education who are engaged in institutional policy development, or who would like to contribute to institutional policies, in the areas of online, blended and/or open education.

References:

Atenas, J., Havemann, L., Neumann, J., & Stefanelli, C. (2020). Open Education Policies: Guidelines for co-creation. Zenodo.

National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. (2018). Guide to Developing Enabling Policies for Digital Teaching and Learning.