Wayne Mackintosh

Hi Bernard,

Participation from developing countries right from the start of the OER concept is a pre-requisite for success. We must plan OER futures together. In the absence of active engagement and participation from all countries -- I don't think we will be able to achieve success.

This is why the OER Foundation subscribes to open philanthropy and all countries are invited to participate in the planning meeting.

We look forward to your contributions in shaping the plans for sustainable OER futures!

Hi Joseph,

Absolutely! I agree on both counts. Student support is integral to student success and I envisage that participating institutions of the OER university concept will provide options for student support on a fee for service basis.

I addition we have a unique opportunity using open models to widen the array of options and alternatives.

For example, it is plausible utilising international mass-collaboration approaches combined with social networking under the "Academic Volunteers International" concept that some level of peer-to-peer and tutor-student support could be provided for free to OER learners. For example, Community Service Learning programs, where senior students earn credit for community service hours, could assist in providing tutoring support to junior students.

The idea is to widen options and create more flexible pathways for OER learners to gain formal academic credit.

Hi Hemiata,

As a distance educator - -I too place a high priority on the quality of our pedagogy (in both closed and open models.) The "Open design and development" initiative in the logic model will be important in addressing quality issues.

On a positive note -- the single-mode distance education institutions have a wealth of experience in the design and development of high quality independent study materials and we will need to tap into this experience for the OER university concept.

Eric Kluijfhout wrote,

I am therefore especially interested in the 'Open Business Models' component of the concept diagram as I think in the end this will be the key to success or failure of the OER university - would someone have some pointers for me?

Agreed -- the "Open Business Models" initiative in the Logic model is important because the OER university concept must be self-sustaining. A few early thoughts and ideas which I'd like to throw into the mix. Clearly we will need to refine these as we move forward.

Open business fundamentals

• The cost of replicating digital knowledge is near zero, and using open content licenses there should be no barriers to access or the rights to adapt and modify these materials.
  
• It is far cheaper, for example, for 10 organisations to collaborate on the development of high quality distance learning materials than one institution doing this alone. Conceivably, savings in time and costs associated with course development could be reinvested into other priority areas, for example research or providing student support for formerly enrolled students at participating institutions.
  
• The model would not require significant "new money", what is needed is a reallocation of existing staff time and agreement to release some courses under open content licenses. I think this is a strategic leadership challenge.
  
• In the case of publicly funded institutions, taxpayers have, to some extent, already paid for the development of course materials by virtue of the Professor's salary which is sponsored through government grants to the institution. Why should taxpayers pay twice for their learning materials?

Thoughts on cost recovery of a parallel learning universe

• I think the model will need to operate on a cost recovery basis for value added services like open assessment and open credentialising -- this gets complicated when we think of international programmes and the issues associated with national budgets sponsoring international students. Another view is to argue that course development is a "sunk cost" and by opening up the resources, the institution concerned has nothing to loose. At least there is no substantive research evidence to justify that institutions will loose students by using OER. On the contrary -- I suspect marginal increases in enrolment given that there are an estimated 100 million learners in the world who currently qualify for a seat in higher education, but will not have the privilege of studying at a university.
• The fee for service components (assessment and credentialisation) should be regulated by normal market forces -- in other words, the participating institutions determine their own fees for these services. Institutions which charge exorbitant fees will be in "competition" with those organisations who charge more market related rates. The system will be open for learners to choose.
• There are potential revenue streams from open textbook publishing, where print-on-demand publishers print and distribute open textbooks at significantly reduced prices when compared to the closed publishing model. A small commission could be routed back to the OER university infrastructure to help defray costs. All the course materials will be freely available on the internet. However, some learners may prefer to have hard copy study guides -- that's their choice. Industrial digital printing technologies could produce bound text books at prices lower than the cost of printing out copies on a local desktop printer.

A few thoughts to start the conversation on open business models.

Hi Joyce,

That's very useful feedback. I identify two issues for the OER university concept:

1. Institutions like ESC are well prepared to respond to PLA needs from OER learners. Therefore from an OER university perspective -- We need to look and see if there are ways to use OER models to enhance the efficiency and reduce costs of PLA for participating institutions.
2. What mechanisms and processes can the OER university implement for pre-evaluated courses within a broader curriculum framework.