"Good that Education is finally part of the Open Science Programme!"

"In the future, 'open science' will simply be 'science'; it seems only logical to me that we should take students on board and prepare them for this." This was just one of the first thoughts from a participant during the first work session on Open Science in Education, which took place in the beginning of December. There were plenty of ideas to develop Open Education further.

The track Open Science in Education is the most recent addition to the Open Science Programme. "We initially focused on research, but it is high time to take an integrated look at what we stand for as a university: education and research in close connection," says leader Leoniek Wijngaards-De Meij. Almost fifty researchers, teachers, support staff and students attended the first working session. From their various interests and backgrounds, they shed light on the many ways in which education can benefit from an open mind, open attitude and open science.

Reflecting on your own and other disciplines

Many of those present see stimulating a reflective attitude among students as one of the greatest added values of an open attitude. "I think it is our task as a university to teach students to be critical of knowledge and how knowledge is acquired. Let them reflect on the research traditions in their field and how they relate to other disciplines." This reflection on how assumptions, methods and perspective can influence the picture of reality is crucial to the interdisciplinary nature of education at UU many believe.

Integrating Open Science into education also means that students know something about the challenges facing science, and what they themselves can do in their education and future work (in or outside the university) to address these. "For example, it would be good if they knew about what has come to be called the replication crisis and that we also teach students the skills to do open science." This should go beyond just applying open skills, "students should also be able to analyse them and make judgements about them."

Thesis with social relevance

An overarching plea that recurs in several breakout sessions is the importance of a truly open attitude. "That means being open to other people's opinions, not avoiding constructive critical debate but rather embracing it." Such openness must be practised both in relation to science and society. "This openness goes beyond transparency; it is also about involving social parties - on the basis of equality."

Many of those present therefore see Open Science as a good way of bringing education and society closer together. "Why don't we let students work on socially relevant issues much more often?" asks one of the participants. "There are very good methods for this, for example the mixed classroom and other forms of community engaged learning."

By allowing students to pick up real questions and insights from society during assignments, their discipline not only becomes more alive; it also contributes directly or indirectly to society. "And how nice it would be if students were aware that their own work, for example a thesis, can be meaningful to society."

Investing in more public involvement and science communication are mentioned as ways to stimulate that social significance. "It must be said, however, that you can only expect this of students if they also have a solid knowledge base, and that you must train lecturers to be able to supervise this."

What is mentioned by one participant is agreed by many: "An open attitude means not only being able to deal with disciplinary differences but also with different cultural perspectives. Citizenship, as part of a community but also as a global citizen are for me deeply interwoven in the open science philosophy."

No 'credits' for sharing educational resources yet

For many, "open" naturally conjures up associations with educational resources. The range of Open Educational Resources (with the awkward abbreviation OER in the Dutch context) is growing steadily, but there has not yet been any real breakthrough in the sharing of teaching methods and materials. "Actually, that is very strange given that we've already made huge strides in research."

In addition to the fact that consideration is currently being given to the legal provisions surrounding the sharing of educational resources, much still needs to be done in terms of willingness, according to those present. "It's obvious that it would be useful for jointly developing and transferring courses, for example, but you don't really get 'credit' for this in any way." Meanwhile, many materials, think textbooks and educational platforms, remain of interest to commercial parties, "which is actually too crazy for words since all the content comes from ourselves."

How to proceed?

Not surprisingly, there is already a great deal of education at UU that has a direct or more indirect relationship to open science. There are, for example, courses for specific open skills, but lecturers also make the open approach and reflection on their own discipline central to the subjects they teach. What is lacking is an overall picture," notes one of the participants. "A lot of things are already happening; it would be good to bring them all together for the sake of overview and coordination!

Regardless of the approach, the condition for many of those present seems to be that the further development of Open Education must pay off. "We should not see this as a 'nice to have', it is an elementary part of our strategy as a UU so it is a 'need to have'." It is the essence, and this must also be reflected in, among other things, the new Recognition and Rewards system.