Setting effective measures for provider responsibility for open content — diagnosis, responsible ownership, effectiveness measures and closure evidence.
The open licensing and quality controls provide the immediate reference point for consideration of provider responsibility for open content in 2012.
Application of the evidence to setting effective measures for provider responsibility for open content
Its relevance to provider responsibility for open content should be assessed against the affected jurisdiction, learner population and form of provision.
Review of corrective action should address both system-level conditions and institutional practice. Open access can widen participation, but users require clear information about authorship, licence, quality, accessibility, maintenance and the status of any learning or assessment. For decisions concerning provider responsibility for open content, authorities and providers hold different responsibilities, both of which must be discharged for the arrangement to operate reliably.
- Maintain or withdraw outdated material.
- Identify authorship and version.
- Review content and accessibility.
- Verify rights before publication.
- State whether assessment or credit is available.
Controls relevant to setting effective measures for provider responsibility for open content
The criteria applied to provider responsibility for open content should be settled and recorded before the evidence is assessed. Across the defined scope, this supports consistent review and reduces the risk of redefining the basis of judgement after an adverse result appears.
A narrow control over corrective action may create false assurance. In the present context, uncertain responsibility for learner support, unclear permission to reuse or adapt and inaccessible resources may produce acceptable aggregate reporting while individual learners remain exposed to material disadvantage.
Relevant evidence for corrective action will normally include version and maintenance information, accessibility checks, clear statements on support and assessment, licence and provenance records, and correction and withdrawal controls. For provider responsibility for open content, currency, provenance and representativeness should be established before evidence is used for assurance.
- Who controls each stage?
- Where do exceptions occur?
- Which evidence establishes operation?
- What action is required by the finding?
- What outcome is intended?
Review criteria for setting effective measures for provider responsibility for open content
Review of the corrective action should map the complete process, identify the intended result and responsible authority at each stage, and test normal cases together with exceptions. In the context of provider responsibility for open content, averages should be tested against adverse cases that may indicate unequal effect or incomplete operation.
A decision to close improvement work on provider responsibility for open content should be made by a person with authority and sufficient independence from implementation.
Proportionality in relation to corrective action does not mean reduced protection for learners exposed to greater risk. Availability is not equivalent to accessibility, participation or learning. Each outcome requires separate evidence. For provider responsibility for open content, correcting an individual record does not establish that the process which produced the error has been corrected.
For decisions concerning provider responsibility for open content, records relating to the intended improvement should preserve both the conclusion and its limits.
Accountability for provider responsibility for open content should follow decision-making authority.
No individual measure is sufficient to establish effective operation of setting effective measures for provider responsibility for open content across the affected scope. A conclusion concerning provider responsibility for open content should be revised when stronger evidence materially changes the assessment of implementation, outcome or risk.