International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 94

International Journal of Open Educational Resources
The OUC project has also attempted
to facilitate input with those
outside of the University of Alberta. The
primary mechanism for enabling such
feedback is through a series of publicly
editable Google Docs that allow anyone
to contribute to the development or
evolution of the educational materials.
However, use of these interactive documents
by those outside of the university
has been limited.
Since its inception, OUC has released
16 freely available, video-based
modules between six and 10 minutes
in length, with as many as 50 other
topics planned for coverage. All of the
project’s content has been released under
the Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License and is available
at https://sites.library.ualberta.ca/
copyright/. Since January 2019, content
has been linked to, re-used, or repurposed
by a number of other post-secondary
institutions, including St Mary’s
University, Mount Allison University,
Northern Lakes College, Tyndale University
College & Seminary, and Dalhousie
University.
What is notable about this case
is that while many OER projects have
their genesis in a specific course, the
OUC project modules have, from the
outset, been designed for both an academic
class-based audience and broader
communities of interest. To manage
these varied audiences, the project has
focused on modular design and accessibility
and has categorized modules at
various levels depending on the depth
of subject matter. Close collaboration
among individuals working in the Copyright
Office and the faculty member has
led to a broader range of subjects being
covered, including modules focused on
practical or “on the ground” copyright
literacy issues (e.g., Finding and Choosing
Open Content) and more academic
analyses of copyright (e.g., Theoretical
Foundations for Copyright). The dual
emphasis on theoretical elements of
copyright and more “practice-based”
copyright instruction is a reflection of
the breadth of the material’s audience,
resulting in higher resource and time
demands from the project’s numerous
contributors.
Subsequent events of national
significance have increased the project’s
relevance and applicability to a
more general audience. Changes to the
Canadian Copyright Act (R.S.C. 1985,
c. C-42) that limit the access to and
use of technologically-protected materials
(s. 41) and a recent federal court
ruling against York University over its
reliance on fair dealing guidelines for
the use of copyright-protected material
(Loriggio, 2017) have created a “copyright
chill” in Canada: individuals are
discouraged from exercising their legal
rights for fear of potential sanction.
The OUC project is now becoming an
instrument for battling this chill, since
accessible education on issues of copyright,
aimed at a wide range of audiences,
may improve users’ understanding
of their rights under the Copyright
Act—especially in the context of its fair
dealing provisions (s. 29)—and minimize
risk avoidance on the part of institutions
that use copyright-protected
materials (Wakaruk, 2018).
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