[Oer-community] Maximum Impact

Mary Lou Forward mlforward at ocwconsortium.org
Mon Oct 18 09:01:19 MDT 2010


Dear Dr Hansen,

You've hit on many of the issues the OCW Consortium is trying to tackle this
year.  First, we are planning to create a global course catalog of sorts,
which will allow all OER housed in different collections around the world to
be tagged with standard descriptors.  This will allow discovery through
specialized searches designed for OER and through general search engines,
like Google, or by browsing through the catalog's categories, much as one
would browse an index.  In effect, this should create a global repository by
having a common categorization protocol, allowing materials to be housed on
distributed sites, but with central organization that allows them to be
found.   The IFLA could be a great partner in its creation, and we would
welcome any contacts you could share.

There are examples of openness in education coming into policy around the
world.  Brazil held a congressional hearing on OER in August.  Korea has
included the creation and use of OER as a criteria for some higher education
grants.  Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has
passed a resolution that includes "creating a culture of openness" among
State institutions. India's National Knowledge Commission listed OER as one
of their recommendations for the future of education in India.  There are
other examples, but more needs to be done.  These efforts are largely at the
instigation of individuals forming networks of support that reach policy
makers.  These efforts could be greatly helped with more data on the impact
of OER on education, as well as more case study examples to provide
qualitative support.  We're building some of this on our website, but would
welcome additional support and ideas.

While individuals can't be members of the OCW Consortium, we welcome and
encourage participation from everyone.  We have working groups for projects,
like the global index/catalog; committees to address long-term issues, like
technology; and interest groups to discuss important topics, like OER and
Pedagaogy or OER Policy.  You can find more information on the "communities"
tab of our website www.ocwconsortium.org.

Thank you for the ideas and suggestions.

Mary Lou


-- 
Mary Lou Forward
OpenCourseWare Consortium
www.ocwconsortium.org


On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 5:46 PM, Christine Hansen <
C.L.Hansen at hansenpartnership.com> wrote:

> Dear Dr. Forward, (appropriate name)
>
> NB: I looked at the consortium site and was disappointed that
> individuals could not become members.
>
> Having read the discussion, and having noting the absence of several
> major collections of OER materials, I believe that the focus ought to be
> on creating a clear, well-known, and easily accessed 'library' of OER
> materials. (The library probably is an index of sites.)
>
> As a newly retired diplomat, I see the need, for example, for
> straight-forward presentations to secretaries of Education, directors of
> technology (OER is tech based), newpapers, etc.
>
> Perhaps IFLA is the organization to go to for consultation on an
> appropriate index. The index can subdivide copyright/other licencing
> issues; also which materials are restricted to, for example, registered
> universities in deeply developing countries (the Journals Project at the
> ITU) or open to all.
>
> Perhaps this would get the OER's up and going soon, while the other
> issues are negotiated.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> and to Dr..N.BALASUBRAMANIAN Narayanaswamy,
>
> I just returned from Taml Nadu, which was exquisite (for 3 days), as was
> the hospital where I had emergency gall bladder surgery.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Oer-community mailing list
> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community
>
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