Boundary Objects & Open Education: Reflections from the Bottom-Up Practice of a European Alliance

Abstract

The paper reflects on the “EULiST-Seminarcheck”, a consulting service designed to open-up courses to partner universities within a university alliance through freely licensed materials. Using an exemplary consulting process it demonstrates how a course functions as a boundary object within the alliance, thereby facilitating bottom-up-cooperation in higher education teaching. The reflection offers “lessons learned” and argues that, as a boundary object, the process successfully navigates the tension between standardization and interpretive flexibility in the alliance, the necessary boundary work by teaching staff requires time, know-how, and resources.