Appendix C: Legend for Table 4 Emergent Control Patterns for OER in the Dedicated OER Policy Corpus

Introduction

Emergent control patterns for OER, informed by the emergent large patterns, revealed similar text across the dedicated OER policy corpus expressing producers, support, collaboration, and voluntariness of OER. In example, the support for OER engagement in the corpus was indicated by headings and sections of text, such as the heading Support services for users and creators (University of Graz, 2020). The control of OER patterns builds upon the emergent large patterns such as, roles, OER definition, licences, and liability (e.g., copyright licenses and disclaimers). The focus of the research was on understanding OER in the dedicated OER policy corpus. Thus, texts and contexts in the corpus revealed patterns of OER control that were compiled in Table 4.

The corpus revealed indications of: OER producers engaged in the 5 R’s of openness (Wiley, 2014); OER support and collaboration opportunities; and the voluntariness of engaging with OER. It could be argued that institutions had final OER control as per the declaration statements found in the Licenses and Liability emergent large patterns of the corpus. OER stakeholders in the corpus were institutional entities (e.g., staff, faculty, departments), and students. The research corpus had indications that institutional entities and students could be OER providers. Although outside the scope of the study, this research posits that any entity (human or artificial) could be a producer and consumer of OER, such as the potential involvement of artificial intelligence with OER.

According to policy literature, an intention of policy is to induce change (J. E. Anderson, 1979; Ball, 2012; Scott, 2001). Therefore, it seems logical that a mandatory or voluntary engagement of OER to induce change could be indicated in dedicated OER policy. Cyclic close and distant readings of the corpus (e.g. Figure 4) found that words such as, encouraged, shall, and should from the context of engaging with OER, were considered indicative of voluntary use of OER, rather than mandatory, obligatory, compulsory terms to mandate OER use, for teaching and learning materials in dedicated OER policy (see Table 4). McGreal (2020) noted that “OER mandates are not a requirement in any jurisdiction in Canada” (p. 3). Thus, corpus text analysis and interpretations provided an understanding of emerging OER control patterns from an OER engagement context with respect to institutional entities and students.

PIE = Producers (Institutional entities)

Indications of institutional entities involved in production (e.g., authoring and/or provisionment) of OER for students in the corpus includes, but not limited to, educators, staff, and departments.

PS = Producers (Students)

Indications of students engaged in production (e.g., authoring and/or provisionment) of OER by statements specifying students or learners in dedicated OER policy documents of the corpus. A statement is defined as “a definite or clear expression of something in … writing” (“Statement,” 2021).

SIE = Support (Institutional Entities)

Indications of support for institutional entities engaged with OER in dedicated OER policy documents of the corpus, including, but not limited to training, incentives, and capacity building.

SS = Support (Students)

Indications of support specific for students engaged with OER in dedicated OER policy documents of the corpus, including, but not limited to training, incentives, and capacity building.

CIES = Collaboration (Institutional Entities, Students)

Indications of collaboration engagement in the production of OER between institutional entities and students in dedicated OER policy documents of the corpus, including but not limited to, course development and/or student projects.

V = Voluntary

Indications of voluntary engagement in the use of OER in dedicated OER policy documents of the corpus, including but not limited to, phrases and words such as “may wish to use OER,” “as deemed appropriate,” and “encourage” in the absence of a mandatory use of OER.