Wayne Mackintosh

David wrote:

So, if OERu could get a simple statement of what is is, what pain point it addresses, how it works and how it is evaluated in a quality assurance context (an elevator pitch describing value for learners), you'd be on solid ground for the launch in late October 2013. ... I'm still looking for the compelling pitch that makes me pay attention and want to play hard for this team. Learners will feel similarly.

This is a big challenge for our OERu family  -- but it is imperative that we get it right (or as best we can with the time and resources at our disposal). In some respects its a chicken-egg problem, not unusual during the "entrepreneurial" phases of a complex project with a BIG vision. We don't have the critical mass of courses assembelled yet, but we do have the critical mass of partners to achieve a fiscally sustainable and scalable model.  

OK -- so an update of where we are at in preparing for the 1 November launch. With the volunteer help from a small group of individuals from OERu partners we've been working on the launch website.  The OERu family serves two primary audiences, learners and prospective partners.  For the launch website we're going to go with the following strapline for learners:

First-class, accessible and affordable education at your fingertips

for prosepective partners, our strapline is:

Distinctively open 

So here's the homepage "pitch" for our audiences:

Learn with OERu

All you need is an internet connection, and you can study with us – no matter where you live! Study online for free, using open educational resources. Get your study credited towards an academic qualification, while paying significantly reduced fees.

Become an OERu partner

Join our philanthropic network and explore new business opportunities with us! Give more people access to affordable education. Our network of academic institutions, spanning five continents, is growing.

With time and more resouce, I'm sure we could do better - but this is what we have got. Fortunately everything is openly licensed, so derivative works and and incremental improvement is definitely on the cards! But I hope we're on reasonable solid ground for the launch. 

We are very fortunate that Otago Polytechnic donated a small internal budget for the benefit of the OERu partnership in building the lauch website. Two put this in perspective, if each OERu partner donated the equivalent sum in cash or kind for OERu marketing, our market budget would be 1.3 times greater than the total annual cost of operating the entire infrastructure of the OERu network. The point being -- we have a very lean and nimble OERu machine which means we will achieve fiscal stustainability plus a guaranteed revenue stream to cover recurrent costs for our partners.

This is smart philanthropy ;-).

Hi Rory,

An important reminder of a core principle of the OERu and a decision taken at the founding anchor partner meeting. We will not dictate pedagogical approach and strive for "pedagogical neutral" structures for our courses, insofar anything can be neutral.  I imagine that some educators may argue that taking a position on neutral is taking a position ;-). 

Mika wrote:

[O]ne of the great things about the OERu model, to my mind, is that if there is some coordination on which open content is used for courses, then scalability of assessment is possible with "pre-fab" exams. Excelsior's major interest in the OERu community, in fact, is that we build such exams, and see a great opportunity for them to help reduce the cost of a credential.

Exactly! As we discussed previously, I have an OERu prototype in mind, namely to trail the concept of a single mOOC for mutliple level exit points. I want to trial the Open Content Licensing for Educators micro-course for credit at 3rd year bachelor's level in addition to a 1st year bachelor's level. I have the credentialing and summative assessment sorted for 3rd year level. I will be able to implement a 1st year option towards an approved credential at Otago Polytechnic. What I'm keen to do is prototype the first year assessment with the help of Exelsior College using your credit-by-exam model. I don't think this course would be a high enrollment option, but that's ideal for prototyping. Small enough to manage if we get things wrong. However, the course will be high profile because it will be an initiative of the UNESCO-COL OER Chair network as our contribution to widening knowledge in OER with multiple options for credit. 

I'd like to set asside a session during the upcomming meetings to explore these ideas. 

Hi Mika,

One thing I've always admired about the US higher education system is the wide spread philosophy of a liberal studies education. 

Speaking from personal experience, my base degree was a vocational degree preparing me for the Accounting profession. This is served me well, but if I reflect on my work over the last decade, I would have been better prepared for my task with a liberal studies foundation. I do think there is value in a Bachelor of General studies -- and as you point out, OERu courses can be used towards specific degrees. 

We should keep the "reuse" scenario of OERu courses for specific degrees in mind as a potential filter for nominating OERu courses. 

Hi Marc

One clarification -- the OERu collaboration does not confer degrees, our anchor partners do. This gives our future OERu students considerably more choice for the institutions and degrees they want to pursue.

The history of Thomas Edison State College as a clearing house and providing assessment services is not unique. The world's first single-mode distance teaching university, Unisa (and one of our anchor partners) has similar origins.

The University of the Cape of Good hope established in 1873, as Unisa was formerly known, was originally an examining university for Oxford, Cambridge, University of London etc working in collaboration with the regional colleges in South Africa. When these colleges became independant univeristies, in a new role for Unisa emerged in 1946 becoming the worlds first single-mode distance teaching university.  

The OERu is in many respects a network solution appropriate for the digital age helping our member institutions achieve their strategic objectives using open education approaches. 

Correct, our member institutions will pull together OERu courses and assessments for local degreee programs at affordable cost. Your experiences working with the Saylor Foundation will be invaluable as we tackle solutions on an international scale.