Vasi Doncheva

Greetings to all,

We are ready to test the technology to support our OERu learners thanks to Jim Tittsler, Lead Software Engineer at the OER Foundation who has now integrated a feed from the ask.oeruniversity.org website into the WEnotes (WikiEducator Notes) timeline. You will find more technical detail in Jim's recent wikiblog entry and see how this fits into the elearning environment for the OCL4Ed course. A BIG thank you to Jim who continues to innovate on a shoestring budget.

The OERu network agreed to trial the ask.bot community-based question and answer forum as a possible solution for a Frequently Asked Questions database to support learners in future OERu courses. Academic volunteers and learners can earn Karma points and badges -- for participating in the community (for more information consult our beginners guide on using Ask OEru).

This is an Invitation for academic volunteers to help test the technology

Kathleen, Supten, Alison, Simon and John have expressed an interest to help and be one of our first AVIs. This invitation is extended to the rest of the community to join them.

We have a unique opportunity to trial this approach as a component of peer-to-peer learning support for the OERu model with the upcoming OCL4Ed workshop starting on 20 June 2012. We would appreciate any of the participants in this discussion with intermediate or advanced knowledge of OERs and Creative Commons Licenses to join the course and volunteer a little time to help us test the Ask OERu engine from the perspective of an academic volunteer - while supporting hundreds of learners from +50 countries.

If you don't have intermediate or advanced knowledge of OERs, copyright and Creative Commons -- you should definitely join our free OCL4Ed celebratory workshop :-). We are here to share the gift of knowledge.

Wayne and Vasi

Big thanks to all participants and contributors to this seminar.

Your generosity with your time, ideas and help in planing the AVIs framework is very much appreciated and valued.

As a result we have a well shaped role of what is expected from AVIs as well as some great ideas how we can attract and retain potential AVIs with rewards that will be of value to them. Thank you gain for helping design this critical element of the AVI framework.

Once we have the AVI proposal drafted in wikieducator we will post the link here so you can continue to comment and contribute.

We hope that some if not all of you will become AVIs and will work with us to further refine the concept during the pilot in 2012.

If you would like to help as an AVI the OER learners and test the concept and framework with us please repy to this forum and we will be in touch early next year.

Thank you again and Best wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the new year 

Vasi and Wayne

Thank you for pointing us to useful resources and tools Simon,
once we get the prototype underway next year we will start looking into that too.

Good suggestions to use page edits for the wiki and community engagement for the discussions as well as OERu Learners votes as bases for issuing the badges or certificates.

Thanks again for your time and help with plaing the AVIs framework.
Merry Chrsitmas to you and your family

Vasi

Great great suggestion Anil have added it to the list.

As I have responded to Simon at this stage we will be looking at that facility being build into the self governing structure of the AVI community rather than being issued by an individual OERu partner / institution.

We still need to define what the certificates will represent and at what level and kind of contributions they will be awarded so OERu partners can accept them as part of performance appraisals for staff or as rebates for assessment or credentialing services for OERu learners.  

I suspect some AVIs may be happy with informal recognition " a badge' while otheres my prefer /need a formal one 'certificate'.

There may be a way to link the badges system with the more formal certificates ...Would that be a usful?

Vasi

Hi everyone,
here is a new thread to focus the discussion around who are our potential pool of AVIs, how can we attract/ recruit them and reward them for their service.

So far here are the suggested potential AVIs:
OERu founding anchor partners identified a number of potential sources of volunteer support for the model including for example:
    •    Retired academics who could be recruited using an "honour referral" approach (referral);
    •    Existing academics where community service recognition is integrated into the staff appraisal systems of OERu anchor partners and other formal education institutions for support provided through Academic Volunteers International (Empire State College was cited as an example which already recognize work on OERu as recognised community service contributions);
    •    Students who participate in community service learning courses where course credit is provided for OERu service hours.
    •    Students studying education could be required to provide e-moderation services as part of their official course assignment(s) for credit within existing education courses.
    •    OERu senior students could qualify for rebates or discounts on assessment and credential services from OERu anchor partners in return for providing support through Academic Volunteers International.
    •    Professional bodies could consider Academic Volunteers International as an option for retaining membership.
    •    Corporate citizenship models could be designed for businesses to donate staff time to Academic Volunteers International.
    •    Existing open communities who work in the open education and other related areas.
    •   Government employees who have been tasked to develop policy using a participatory approach.i.e. develop their e-moderation skills. - Simon
    •   National or international funding bodies who are tasked with coordinating international activities. - Simon

Any other suggestions from the SCoPe community to add to the list?

How do we attract / recruit them?
- advertise on the forums and lists that serve open education communities...wikieducator, connexions, opencollegetextbooks, wikipedia?, etc. (create a list of these communities) -Alison
- advertisement to communicate clerly what is expected from the AVIs ( different roles - areas of support)," joining" process...accounts, available/required training, etc- Alison How can we reword them?

What is the 'type (s) of recognition that the volunteers feel is valuable and might help increase the number of volunteers and help us keep them? (as Ellen has pointed out).

Suggestions so far:

- some kind of credit which shows the kind of work and effort they provide to the OERu - Simon
- meaningful incentives and community kudos recognition, number of contributions, budges besed on WikiEducator's Wikimaster typology -- a community based competency model where badges are displayed on user pages after demonstrating a particular level of competence - Wayne
- OER learner feedback / rating of services offered by AVIs into the framework - Irwin, Vasi, Simon, Wayne, Ellen
- a volunteer of the month recognition - Joyce
- some form of ..) TOKENS / Points which can be ‘cashed in’ towards fee applicable services. For example an ‘accrediting organisation’ could offer to except X number of TOKENS / Points towards or in exchange for their assessment services - Kathleen
- something of more practical use, like a skills exchange -Mary
- ‘feel good’ warm fuzzies .. http://www.wooboard.com/  acknowledge different activities / contributions - Kathleen

- the facility to issue formal experience or performance certificates to the AVIs - Anil, Simon (build into the self governing structure of the AVI framework / community)

Looking forward to you suggestios and contributions

 

Vasi and Wayne