We celebrate the start of Open Education Week 2023 with a panel discussion on the opportunities that open education unlocks for our teaching and learning community.

Our panellists, Professor Kylie Readman (UTS Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Education and Students)), Professor Jill McKeogh (Emirate Professor Faculty of Law), and Sally Scholfield (Director, Scholarly Services in the UTS Library) will highlight the role of open education in contributing to social justice, share their experiences implementing open education policies, as well as discuss the impacts of open education on knowledge ownership and management in Australia.

Panellists

Professor Kylie Readman is UTS's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Education and Students) and is an experienced leader in the field of education. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing UTS's key priorities in teaching, learning, and the student experience. She has a particular focus on engagement, belonging, well-being, and partnerships with students. Kylie is passionate about teaching excellence, learner engagement and student success. Her expertise lies in creating the institutional conditions to build staff capacity to design and deliver engaging and innovative curricula while ensuring students, especially those from backgrounds traditionally under-represented at university, have the very best chance of realising their aspirations.

Professor Jill McKeough is an eminent scholar in intellectual property law and her published work canvasses, among other things, the development of the digital economy, competition law, indigenous and cultural rights, e-commerce and knowledge management, freedom of information, and access for Australian business and consumers to books, software, entertainment products and educational resources.

Jill McKeough returned to UTS in 2014 following her appointment to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) as Commissioner in charge of a major review of copyright law, 2012-2013. Appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 2005, Professor McKeough has extensive leadership experience in the tertiary sector including Head of School, Associate Dean (undergraduate) and Director of Postgraduate Programs in the Law Faculty at UNSW. In 2004 she was elected a member of the UNSW University Council, serving until her appointment at UTS.

Sally Scholfield is the Director, Scholarly Services in the UTS Library. She has a particular interest in open access initiatives and coordinated the recent revision of the UTS Open Access Policy, which was broadened to encompass open education and open educational resources (OER) for the first time. Sally oversees the Library’s faculty engagement program and the development of education and research support services for students and staff. She is also responsible for the Open Scholarship & Copyright Department which has a strong focus on open access advocacy, publishing and data management through the UTSePress, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA), and copyright and data services.