unescocol chair2

UNESCO/COLChair in Open Education Resources

Elearn AfricaMay 2011Rory McGreal

Sponsors

CommunityAdjustmentFund

Partners

Rory McGreal Fred Mulder

UNESCO Chairholders in OER Partners

OER in Africa

Gender Equality

Youth

Networking

Capacity Building

Research

Rural & remote communities

Susan D’Antoni

OERs for Development Goal of developing together a universal

educational resource available for the whole of humanity… hope that this open resource for the future mobilizes the whole of the worldwide community of educators”

UNESCO 2002

+2 billion Internet connexionsWorld population: 6.8 billion

¼ of the world’s population

http://www.soil-net.com/album/Places_Objects/slides/Globe%20Planet%20Earth%20NASA.jpg

4.5 billion mobile device subscriptions

1.5 billion mobile internet users

1/3 only access internet via mobile

90% of world population is covered by cellular

Mobile Learning

The world is going mobile

OER Quality measures• brand or reputation• peer review• user ratings• use indicators• validation,• self-evaluation

OER Quality measures• Sharability• Timeliness• Reach (number of users), • Usability (license restrictions), • Accessibility.

OER Quality: Cost sharing

• Cost sharing

OER Quality: Timely Updating

OER Quality: Accessibility

OER Quality: Type of Licence

GNU

OER Quality: Number of Learners

20 or 2 million?

Quality: What to measure?

• Materials?• Context?• Outcomes?• Competencies?

Culturally Appropriate OER’s

• “e-learning courses are cultural artifacts, embedded with the cultural values, preferences, characteristics, and nuances of the culture that designed them, and inherently creating challenges for learners from other cultures.” Edmunsdon, 2009

UNESCO OER Community

• OER Wiki• OER Discussion

group• International

Wayne Macintosh

OER University Concept

Jim Taylor

California?Washington?

Jim Taylor

Student mentors?

• Social networks• Students could get 2

credits for a course instead of 3

• Then get 1 additional credit for mentoring the course

Open Curriculum

Students choose what is of interest to them and what meets their professional development needs from the “smorgasbord” of available open courses

designed and based solely on OER

Jim Taylor

• To guarantee the credibility of open scholarship for academic credit, the assessment process must be strictly equivalent to that for mainstream students

• “Open” Assessment must therefore involve payment of a fee (cost recovery only) or a scholarship scheme

“Open” Assessment Services“Open” Assessment Services

Jim Taylor

• Participating institutions willing to grant academic credit for open scholarship must have credible local accreditation

• The overall quality of the “OER University Network” could be enhanced by the endorsement of the

International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education

(INQAAHE)

Open Credential Services Open Credential Services

Jim Taylor

Open Student Support

Internet domain names have been registered for

Academic Volunteers International

Jim Taylor

Funding Models (from Downes, 2007)

• Endowment • Membership • Donation • Producer

• Sponsorship • Govt. funding • Institutional

Internet is the biggest commons

Public domain is a priceless, shared heritage wikimedia

The law locks up the man or womanWho steals the goose from off the commonBut leaves the greater villain looseWho steals the common from off the goose.

Anonymous 1764 or 1821?

Stealing the Goose

turtlemom4bacon

US Bullying

• Intense lobbying • Gunning for

Canada

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=168

Statute of Queen Anne 1710

An Act for the Encouragement of Learning

USA: Copyright Act 1790An Act to Promote the Progress of Science and the Useful Arts

Wedemeyer Award OER texts from Athabasca University Press

www.aupress.ca

Mohamed Ally Ed.

Terry Anderson Ed.

Dietmar Kennepohl & Lawton Shaw

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

Eric Hoffer

Mcilvanity

rory@athabascau.ca Ashanti