Already a Canadian leader in open education, Rajiv Jhangiani is poised to broaden his impact by taking on a leadership role with an international advocacy organization.<\/p>\n
Brock\u2019s Vice-Provost of Teaching and Learning was recently elected to the board of directors of Open Education Global<\/a> (OEG), a member-based non-profit organization that supports the expansion of open education resources and practices.<\/p>\n Jhangiani has also been invited to give the opening keynote address at the 20th annual Open Education Conference<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n He has helped more than 100 institutions around the world build their open education capacity since he first began exploring the field a decade ago.<\/p>\n \u201cOpen education is a philosophy about the ways in which people may share, build on and advance knowledge,\u201d he says. \u201cIt seeks to eliminate barriers \u2014 legal, economic, technological or any other \u2014 to both the creation of knowledge and the dissemination of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n His own foray into open education began with trying to help his students navigate financial barriers to education by locating and adapting textbooks with open licenses. He went on to research the impact and efficacy of open educational resources and to explore the ways students can co-create knowledge through open pedagogy practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n Through his new role with OEG, Jhangiani hopes to promote thoughtful open education policy-making, learn from practitioners around the world and nurture partnerships between Brock faculty and their international peers.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m acutely aware of the ways in which there’s a gulf between the potential of higher education and the reality, which too often replicates existing societal power hierarchies,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, this role is about making sure that we can widen equitable access to higher education for students and provide support for faculty members embracing critical pedagogy and socially just practices.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond removing financial barriers, Jhangiani says many faculty members are drawn to open education resources and practices because of the opportunities to make their teaching practices more inclusive.<\/p>\n Since joining Brock last August, he has been involved in the development of a new Open Educational Resources Adoption Grant<\/a> program, funded by the Brock University Students\u2019 Union, that provides support to instructors who wish to incorporate these resources into their courses.<\/p>\n Jhangiani hopes to continue to advance open education at Brock by developing training and supports for faculty members who want use open pedagogies or publish open education resources.<\/p>\n