Wayne Mackintosh

Hi Scott,

Thanks for sharing.

During a previous SCoPE seminar, we started brainstorming "user stories" for different categories of volunteers. This still needs a lot of work, but your point is well made that simply replicating what we already have will not necessarily get us to where we want to be.

The fundamental challenge we are trying to address is to widen access to free learning opportunities, especially for the millions of learners who are excluded from the tertiary sector, with pathways to acheive credible degrees.

As a small charitible colloboration - we simply do not have the resources for sophisticated outreach to students. Our model is designed around smart integration of peer-learning support.  On the technology side, we use a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) approach with careful integration of peer learning activities. 

Terry Anderson's work on the interaction equivalency theorem provides some research evidence that if we can effectively ramp up student-student support, we can get away with not having high levels of lecturer-student interactions. 

To be candid - in a large online class, there is a strong likelihood that a number of learners will "know the answer" (or at least know how to find it). 

Thanks Maria.

Valid point - yes we should add something student-centred to the priorities. We really need to pick up on early brainstorm work around designing Academic Volunteers International - this is missing from the plan.

I've added your point to the summary for the Strategic Planning Working group.

Thinking out loud -- I wonder if student engagement should be incorporated into the community source objective of Strategic Goal 1 which deals with building a sustainable and scalable OERu network? Volunteer contributions, especially from learners will help scale the OERu collaboration.

Thanks Maria.

Greetings everyone

The OERu open strategic planning consultation is directed by three questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where should we go?
• How do we get there?

Background and approval process

The OERu is distinctively open. To date, all our face-to-face partner meetings have been streamed live on the internet with opportunities for virtual participants to engage in the breakout sessions and help shape the OERu agenda. Our face-to-face meetings are supplemented by: an open planning portal in the wiki; a number of communication channels; and these online SCoPE seminars with thanks to BCcampus for sharing this infrastructure to help the OERu achieve more affordable education for all.

The draft strategic plan was derived from recommendations generated during the OERu 2013 series of meetings. The draft plan was posted in the wiki in May 2014 for comment from the community. This SCoPE seminar marks the beginning of the synthesis phase where we aim to bring the strategic pieces together. The Strategic Planning Working Group will consider all feedback in preparing an integrated set of documents linking the OERu strategic plan and associated management structures. The strategic plan will be tabled at the 2^nd meeting of the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers on 10 November 2014 leading to final approval by the OER Foundation at the December meeting of the Board of Directors.

Support resources for Session 1

Discussions during Session 1 of our SCoPE seminar will focus on the OERu planning context. Please read:

1. The brief summary of the OERu journey to date

2. The OERu baseline data as of 1 January 2013.

3. Our 2014 operational priorities

Guiding questions for Session 1

1. Any clarification questions about the OERu

2. Do we have the baseline data correct? Are we missing anything?

3. Did we get the 2014 operational priorities right? Are we missing any key priorities?

4. How are we performing on the 2014 operational priorities?

5. Any other questions which are relevant to the planning context?

I look forward to an informative session as we unpack our OERu planning context.

During Session 2 we will review the proposed strategic goals for the OERu 4-year strategic plan.

(Note: As an asynchronous seminar, you are most welcome to comment on previous sessions. So if you missed the first day, you can access the forum for Session 1 on the planning context here.) 

Please read the proposed strategic goals which were collated from recommendations at the OERu 2013 series of meetings. 

Guiding questions

1. Are we missing any important strategic goals for the 2014 - 2017 plan? If so please let us know.
2. What are the substantive risks which would prevent the OERu from achieving its goals?
3. Do you have any thoughts on the priority ranking of the stated goals?
4. Are there any strategic objectives missing from the list which would contribute to the attainment of our strategic goals
5. Any general comments, ideas or thoughts to help OERu achieve success?
6. How can the OERu strategy narrow the gap between the future value the network can provide and the immediate tangible benefits partners can extract today?
7. Additional consultation questions?

Have a great day!

Hi Everyone,

Paul Stacey, Associate Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, has gifted his time freely to prepare the summary of our SCoPE planning seminar for input into the 2nd meeting of OERu anchor partners. BIG thanks and kudos to Paul. (You can download a print version of the summary from WikiEducator.)  

Our discussions provide the foundations for the development of the agenda for the 2nd meeting of OERu anchor partners. 

You can continue to shape the future of the OERu by registering as a remote participant at the meeting. (If you registered before using Internet explorer - -please register again. We discovered a bug in the registration form :-() 

FYI, today we also posted the agenda for the inaugural meeting of the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers. 

Thankyou for your gift of knowledge to help shape OER futures.