[Oer-community] Introduction to the discussion

Paul Lefrere p.lefrere at open.ac.uk
Tue Oct 5 17:30:14 MDT 2010


Jacques du Plessis <jacques at uwm.edu> writes:
>Hi Paul, I liked your email to Susan regarding the zero-sum issue for
>sustainability of OER projects. This concept of sustainability is something
>many are intrigued by, yet it is not achieved with ease.
>
>My example is the openlanguages.net initiative. It has been growing since 2004
>to offer less commonly taught languages online. 

- Jacques, I like this a lot, it's a great example of OER for the greater good

...
>It is a modest approach, but I find it more grounded  than the grant-seeing
>approach, 
...
> I want to avoid financial support that brings 'magic' to a project, and then
>the money goes away, and there is not the means to maintain the 'magic' or
>bigness of the venture. That is the dance I do not want to dance :-)

- I admire this approach, and feel that to really make a difference, a project
has to have its own internal "magic"; winning a large grant makes some things
possible, such as hiring people, but when the grant expires, often the "winner"
of the grant is under pressure to move on to the next area where a grant is
available, and to stop work on any non-funded prpject no matter how worthwhile
it is
>
>
>It is vital to think bold and beautiful and even quick, but to do nothing if
>there is not the long-term logic factored in.

- very sensible; when the target is clear, and people work on projects they are
passionate about, great things can result without massive funding, as with
openlanguages.net and also the example that Zaid gives: Salman Khan
(http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2008/12/salman-khan-uses-microsoft-paint-to.html
)
>



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