Open Educational Resources are sustainable and renewable, for the collective benefit of allDear [First Name]
Thank you for your interest in the OERu Outreach Programme. You are receiving this email because you have expressed interest in becoming an Outreach Partner with the OER universitas (OERu) international network.
To help you make an informed decision about joining the OERu Outreach Programme, we have assembled two emails with relevant resource links for you to consider:- Today, we would like to share what we mean by Open Educational Resources (OER), and why we believe embracing OER is a more sustainable approach for the future of higher education.
- Tomorrow, we will
- highlight the benefits of joining the OERu Outreach Programme,
- summarise the application process, and
- attach a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), for your leadership team to review.
OER definedThe William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which has invested over US$190 million in grants since 2001 to support institutions with the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER), defines the concept as follows:Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. The characteristic features of OER, specifically no-cost access
plus
permissions to reuse and modify fully open online courses, provide unique opportunities for institutions in the developing world because: - learners do not need to purchase any learning materials, or register an account to gain access to online course resources, and
- institutions in the developing world can reuse any of OERu’s courses for free, without incurring costs for course development or expense for hosting these courses online.
Sustainable economics of OERu“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas”~ George Bernard Shaw You may ask: How can the OERu give away open online courses for free, but generate sufficient revenue to sustain operations?
We are a not-for-profit collaboration. As such we do not have any ‘business secrets’ to hide or corporate interests to protect, so we can share with you how we sustain operations. The solution is what we call ‘smart philanthropy’, derived from decades of experience with the free and open source software movement. We can give away open online courses for free, because the additional cost of duplicating digital resources for sharing is near-zero. We rely on the goodwill of higher education institutions around the world, who assemble courses and contribute membership fees, because they share our belief that education is a public good. This is a viable model because we do not restrict the rights of individual institutions to earn a living - they can generate revenue to recoup their own costs by providing value-added services like assessment.Tell me more about the OER FoundationEstablished in 2009, the OER Foundation (OERF), which coordinates the OERu network, is very fortunate to have a global network of institutions from five continents, who contribute membership fees as part of their community-service mission towards the the central costs of OERu operations. The OERF also receives additional funding support from international donors, who share our vision of providing more affordable higher education for learners who face financial barriers to study or for whom conventional higher education is out of reach. These membership fees together with donor support provide the funding for the OER Foundation to offer free membership to qualifying institutions in the developing world to join the network.
Recommended links:Overcoming the challenge of affordable Internet access in the developing world“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”~ African proverb At the OERu, we recognise that affordable and reliable access to the Internet is a major challenge for the majority of learners in the developing world, and we understand that print-based learning materials will continue to play a major role. At the same time, we have a responsibility to prepare learners for future careers in a globally connected world, and we cannot ignore the need for developing digital and learning literacies for the 21st century.
This is a complex challenge. People can’t learn to swim without getting their feet wet. Similarly, you can’t develop the skills for becoming proficient digital learners for future employment without learning on the Internet. At the OERu, we know that we cannot solve these challenges alone, but we are keen to work with you in partnership, to implement sustainable solutions for the future.
A significant point of difference of the OERu initiative is that our entire technology infrastructure is based on free and open source software. This creates opportunities for us to work together in tackling the challenges of learning on the Internet in the developing world. For example, it would be possible to replicate local instances of OERu online courses for learners to connect to digital learning materials, without the need for grid electricity or Internet access, with low-cost servers (approximately US$100) powered by open source software. See, for example, the Commonwealth of Learning’s Aptus device. In this model, learners would be able to interact with OERu content using a smartphone with a wi-fi connection to the local server, without any data charges.
The implementation of these innovative solutions requires input from institutions in the developing world, and provides a good example of South-North knowledge-sharing.
Working together, we can achieve more than working alone, to implement relevant solutions to ensure all learners can have access to develop digital learning skills for the 21st century.Have a question?We appreciate that you may have questions about open education, so we have set up a public forum to discuss the OERu Outreach Partnership Programme. Please feel free to post any questions you may have, so that we can all benefit from the answers and related discussions.
With kind regards
Wayne Mackintosh (PhD)
Director, OER Foundation
UNESCO / ICDE Chair in OER.
Email: wayne@oerfoundation.org
About OERuSee how the OERu works and find out about the many benefits that partners enjoy as they open new doors to higher education. You can explore the OERu’s history, from when it was founded in 2011 up to the present, by visiting our dynamic timeline. The OERu is establishing a leadership role in transnational micro-credentialling, with pathways to achieving academic credit towards university qualifications. |
