The OER universityfrom the inside outand the outside in

A seminar at SAIDE by Gabi Witthaus, 15 June 2012

Introduction

Testing the OER

university

Concept: a

National Study

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/7188563020/

www.le.ac.uk/toucans

Overview

• Part 1: OERs… the story so far• Part 2: The OERu from the inside out• Part 3: The OERu from the outside in (UK HEI

views on the OERu concept)

Health and safety alert: work in progess

Part 1: OERs - the story so far…

Image by Steve Jurvetson

This kid wants to go to university one

day…. So does this

one...

A traditional university education

Image by ttarasiuk

In 2001, MIT disrupted the model…

http://ocw.mit.edu/

In 2006, the OU tried it in the UK

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

And then…

Enrolments increased…

their own trumpets

?

So were they just

blowing…

Image by Sara Björk

Or was it a

situation?

In 2008, it became a movement

http://www.capetowndeclaration.org

Because some things don’t need reinventing…

Image by Thomas Guest

And some things are

rather specialised.

Image by Steve Jurvetson

From 2009 to present: UKOER

www.creativecommons.org

At first, there were a lot of headaches…

Copyright

Formats

Tracking reuse

Metadata

To brand or not to brand?

Image by JD Hancock

But we soon found… we sharing

Image by D.Begley

#ukoer

So what does it mean for him?

And for him?

Image by Steve Jurvetson

Anyone can access OERs with a computer and an internet

connection

Image by Babak Fakhamzadeh

So now…

We’ve moved from this:

Image by ttarasiuk

To this:

You can look…

Image by Elvert Barnes

Image by Elvert Barnes

But you can’t enjoy the sweet taste of success.

Image by Ralph Daily

100 million adults eligible for university

who can’t afford it (UNESCO)

Image by James Cridland

Will this…

ever be possible for the 100 million?Image by Pete Birkinshaw

Maybe…

Because openness is infectious…

http://wikieducator.org/File:OER-University-concept.png

The OER university (OERu) concept

http://wikieducator.org/Oeru

OERu partners are all accredited by national accrediting bodies

Image by normanack on flickr

What is the OERu?

Local assessment

and credentialling

Friesen & Murray, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

This is… “Open Learning 2.0”: … Any student can study any content, supported in any number of instructional arrangements… The “local” institutional evaluation and accreditation… (remain) at the centre of the model… Even though learning is achieved through flexible arrangements, it can… still be rigorously assessed and credentialed. (Friesen and Murray, 2011)

http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

Cost to learner:

Less than 25% of usual fees

Cost to institution:

OERu - less than 0.5% of their total offerings

Part 2: from the inside looking out

Curriculum?

Image by Jayel Aheram

Assessment?

Image by flippinyank

Accreditation and credit transfer?

Image by IvanWalsh.com

But will it work for the learners?

Help!!!!!

Photo by Erik Charlton

Volunteers to the rescue?Photo by MisterJamie

What’s the business model?

Image by Gabi Witthaus cc-by

So perhaps this…

Photo by Dallas Vegan

is a real possibility for the 100 million?

Many thanks to the following people for their generous sharing of information:

•Prof. Terry Anderson (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education, Athabasca University, Canada)•Dr Elizabeth Archer (Specialist: Institutional Research at the University of South Africa)•Kevin Bell (Innovation Team: Leader of Learning and Development, Southern New Hampshire University, USA)•David Bull (Director: University Preparatory Programs, University of Southern Queensland, Australia)•Irwin DeVries (Director, Instructional Design, Thompson Rivers University, Canada)•Vasi Doncheva (Flexible Learning Manager, Northtec Polytechnic, New Zealand)•Wayne Mackintosh (Director: International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand, and Founding Director of the OER Foundation)•Prof. Rory McGreal (Associate Vice-President, Athabasca University, Canada)•Prof. Joyce McKnight (Associate Professor, State University of New York/ Empire State College, USA. Speaking in her personal capacity as a scholar.)•Terry Neal (Flexible Learning Manager, Open Polytechnic, New Zealand)•Paul Stacey (Director, Curriculum Development, BC Campus, Canada)•Herbert Thomas (Electronic Learning Media Team Leader, Canterbury University, New Zealand)•Prof. Sandra Wills (Executive Director, Learning and Teaching, Wollongong University, Australia) Thanks also to Dr Patrick McAndrew at the Open University and colleagues at the University of Leicester, especially Dr Ming Nie and Dr Alejandro Armellini, for their support in this research. 

Part 3: from the outside looking in

Research methodology

• Interviews with OERu network partner members (14)

• Interviews with UK HEI thought leaders (9)• Survey among UK HEIs (42 respondents)• Weightings allocated by “expert group” to

generate “compatibility” benchmarking tool• Sample institutional compatibility scores

calculated

The surveyBournemouth UniversityCoventry UniversityDe Montfort University Institute of EducationKing's College London Leeds Met University (2)Loughborough UniversityMiddlesex University Newcastle University Open University (4) Southampton Solent

University

University of Bath, University of Cambridge University of Huddersfield, University of Hull, University of Leeds, University of Leicester (5) University of ManchesterUniversity of Nottingham (2) University of OxfordUniversity of Southampton University of SurreyPlus eight others

The respondents (N=42)

Is your institution in the OERu network?

The interviews• Leicester: Christine Fyfe (PVC), Dave Hall

(Registrar), Prof. Grainne Conole (Director, BDRA)• OU: Andrew Law (Dir, Open Media)• Salford: Prof. Martin Hall (VC)• Edinburgh: Prof. Jeff Haywood (CIO)• Nottingham: Prof. Wyn Morgan (Dir, Teaching &

Learning)• Derby: Julie Stone• JISC (personal capacity): Amber Thomas• JISC (personal capacity): David Kernohan

Response theme (1)

Response theme (2)

With many thanks to…

Andy Lane, Vivien Rolf, Terese Bird, Grainne Conole, Christine Fyfe, Fred Garnett, Graham Gibbs, Dave Hall, Martin Hall, Jeff Haywood, David Kernohan, Andrew Law, Wayne Mackintosh, Patrick McAndrew, Angela Murphy, Ming Nie, Amber Thomas and Stephen Walker for all the help and support in carrying out this research.

What do you think?Could this be an opportunity…

To shape the future

Images by by Steve Jurvetson, James Cridland, Walt Stoneburner

for them…

and for them?

www.toucansproject.wordpress.com