Open UBC Snapshot: Open as a TLEF Priority Focus


UBC-Vancouver’s Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) was created in 1991 to enrich student learning by supporting innovative and effective educational enhancements. Starting in the 2017/2018 cycle, a priority focus on the development or integration of open educational resources (OER) was added to the criteria for new proposals. Furthermore, eligibility requirements were also added that specifically stated that funded projects are encouraged to openly license their developed materials under an appropriate Creative Commons license to allow for broad sharing within and beyond UBC. Approximately 25% of the 2017/2018 TLEF funded projects had an explicit open strategy. In the 2018/2019 cycle, more than 39 percent of the TLEF funded projects incorporated strategies around open resources or practices.

What is Open Education?

Open UBC Image Open education encompasses resources, tools, and practices that employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access and effectiveness. Open activities supported by the TLEF include:
  • The adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER. OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of access barriers, and which often carry legal permission which allows anyone to freely use, adapt and share the resource.
  • The adoption of open education pedagogies and practices that leverage UBC’s open technologies and OER to allow for flexible, authentic, student-centered, and accessible learning.

Open Education is Increasing at UBC Since 2011, more than 47,000 UBC students have enrolled in courses in which instructors used OER instead of traditional textbooks. At least $4.7 to $6.7 million dollars have been saved by students in these courses and these figures are increasing each year. Read more…

Examples of Open Education Projects Funded by the TLEF

Please visit the UBC TLEF site for a complete list of TLEF funded projects.

The TLEF is Funded By Students

The TLEF is financed through a portion of the student tuition paid to UBC Vancouver. According to the 2016 AMS Student Experience Survey (pdf), nearly 75% of students have not bought a course text due to cost at least once and 37% reported. Access to educational materials is an important topic for students as they often or frequently go without textbooks or resources due to cost. Open educational resources and practices can help close those access barriers.

Please note: Open UBC Snapshots attempt to quantify and explore emerging trends in open educational practices at UBC. Please help us make this series more complete. If you are using open resources in your own teaching and learning or are aware of any open practices or adoptions on campus, please let us know!

This Open Snapshot was adapted from the TLEF and Open Education Poster presented at the TLEF Showcase. The original poster can be downloaded here.