The OER universitas (#OERu)

Anthony Mackintosh

Wayne Mackintosh

Awarding academic credit for free online OER courses:Lessons from the OERu

Open educationMOOCs

Virtual mobilitywww.emundus-project.eu

The OER Foundation

The Open Education Resource (OER) Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that provides leadership, networking and support for educators and educational institutions to achieve their objectives through open education.

“OER is a sustainable and renewable resource”

OERu European partners

Smart philanthropy

Luis Argerich http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/3029485203James Cridland http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/2272701122James Cridland http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/2272701122Asenat29 http://www.flickr.com/photos/72153088@N08/6510934443/

Giving is receivingParallel learning universe|New business

Unsatisfied demand for HE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/sizes/m/in/photostream/

100 million additional placesBy 2025

Slide 10

Open sourcing education

The OER university concept

Adapted from Taylor 2007

Free learning opportunities for all students worldwide

OER & the sustainable disaggregation of services

Traditional university package OERu package

“It was also quite freeing not to be tied to a textbook and able to follow what I

wanted to learn about and what I wantedto write about”

Open but tough

too RIGID?| too FLEXIBLE?

Free OER courses |Disaggregation of services |

CREDIBLE CREDENTIALS

Research on accrediting learners using OER

Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) study on assessment and accreditation using OER (Rory McGreal, Wayne Mackintosh, Dianne Conrad)

TOUCANS, SCORE Fellowship project, University of Leicester: Testing the OERu Concept and Aspirations: a National Study (Gabi Witthaus)

OERu Context Evaluation Study, Australian Digital Futures Institute (Angela Murphy)

Download: http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=458

Drawing on three studies

Key findings and outputs

OER courses + disaggregated services = Affordable access

No material policy barriers – reuse existing assessment practices

Assessing for formal academic credit

● Transfer credit (and associated “residency requirements)● Challenge for credit (proctored examinations)● Course assignments (e-portfolio)● Automated assessment (testing centres)● Recognition of prior learning

Traditional approaches

Emerging approaches

● Competency-based● Open badges● VMPass (Learning Passport & clearing house)

Likely methods for OER assessment

Use of OER friendly acreditation activities

Growth in assessment services for OER

Cost to student

33% 54%

RPL cost for 3 courses as ratio of full-tuition fees

Average cost: 44.5% of comparable full-tuition costs

36% 57%

Credit by exam cost against full-tuition cost

Average cost: 48.8% of comparable full-tuition costs

Assessing for formal academic credit

● Transfer credit● Challenge for credit (proctored examinations)● Course assignments (e-portfolio)● Automated assessment (testing centres)● Recognition of prior learning

Traditional approaches

Emerging approaches

● Competency-based● Open badges● VMPass (Learning Passport & clearing house)

OERu fiscal sustainability

Slide 12

OER is a renewable & sustainable resource

Jason Scragz http://www.flickr.com/photos/scragz/132300147/

James Woolley http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtrato/6159728957

How do we achieve sustainable OER projects?

How will your institution remain sustainablewithout OER?

Slide 13