Just checking in Dr. Joyce McKnight, State University of New York/Empire State College (US)
Like Nellie I didn't realize that I not only have to check in but that I should introduce myself. I am a tenured assistant professor at Empire State College of the State University of New York (also known as New York's Open University). Empire State has a forty year history of enabling adult students to complete bachelor's level degrees through a combination of liberal transfer policies, assessment of prior college level learning, and a wide variety of innovative learning opportunities including online courses, individualized learning contracts, study groups, and residencies. Each student is assigned a mentor who assists the student in the development of a completely individualized degree plan geared to the student's interests and prior learning. Empire State College is fully accredited for the maximum number of years by the Middle States (a US accrediting body) and enjoys an excellent reputation. We are one of the founding members of the OER Foundation. I believe that our forty years of experience shows that the concept of an OER University with links to fully accredited colleges and universities is very viable and that my own institution is living proof of its viability. I am very excited to be part of this venture and am so glad I found wikieducator and the OER Foundation.
I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I seem to be getting comments on my e-mail but not here in the seminar. At any rate, I received a nice note from Nasrullah who works with the Open University of Pakistan. Your institution sounds great...I can hardly imagine a million students...we have difficulty with 9,000 or so. On the upside, my institution SUNY/Empire State College has many years of experience with the development of online courses...I could probably connect you with appropriate instructional designers etc. who might be of assistance to you. We already have 400+ fully designed courses. I am not sure of the logistics of making them available, but we might be able to arrange something as part of our global community service mission. All the best. J.McK