2. Purpose of this Policy

This policy outlines the vision of the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (UNIR) towards Open Education (OE) in every form: Open Educational Resources (OER), Data, Research results, Policy, Licencing, Technology and Content authoring. It provides an action plan to reach this vision by 2020 and provides a set of guidelines for the adoption of OE in the university’s teaching practices. Since UNIR is an online university this policy concentrates on digital contexts. However, this policy well could be applied to physical resources like textbooks or manuals on paper, also.

With the present policy, UNIR wants to encourage staff and students to use, create and publish OE resources and services to enhance the quality of the student experience, enhance the provision of learning opportunities for all, and improve teaching practices. At the same time, UNIR also aims to contribute to “a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use…creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge”.[1] In addition, the policy outlines how UNIR will contribute to research in the field of OER and Open Education within Spain and internationally.

[1] Cape Town Declaration (2007). Cape Town Open Education Declaration: Unlocking the Promise of Open Educational Resources. Retrieved from: www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration