Hi Gurmit, Responses in text below ...
2009/5/14 Gurmit <[email protected]> > Dear Wayne > > As a newcomer to the list, I am very pleased to hear that WE is making > amazing progress and maturing. Thanks -- we're very excited with this new phase of the WE project. We're now an adolescent moving out of our parental home so to speak. WE're now standing on our own feet to grow and mature with greater autonomy to take decisions in creating our own futures. > > I work for an organisation that spends most of its time and resources > putting up huge HIV AIDS conferences. Our vision is to widen access > and participation and 'improve knowledge and skills' of health care > professionals and create healthy communities. We share similar objectives in widening access and participation in "knowledge" creation and sharing -- so I'm sure that our collective experiences will be of mutual benefit in achieving our objectives. As you know -- the Learn share HIV/Aids portal is off to an impressive start ( http://tinyurl.com/pzhwtn) and has the potential to grow into an impressive community driven project. > > > How can I work with WE to demonstrate the added-value of moving to OER > and 'learning as ecology' around communities of practice, rather than > discrete knowledge inputs via traditional conferences and workshops? This is an excellent question -- and reflecting on you how you have phrased the question, I think you already have the answer! Community is the cornerstone of OER --- OER is the enabler that makes it easier for individuals and communities to collaborate. Open technologies like wiki's are also enablers helping us to collaborate over time and national boundaries in ways which were not possible before. > > There are political, organizational and IT capacity challenges, but > there are potential benefits of collaborating which could be > communicated... Absolutely! As I intimated above, OER helps remove many of the political barriers that stiffle collaboration. It's a transparent way of saying "I'm serious about collaboration" because collaborating partners are free to share, reuse and repurpose the objects (content) of the collaboration without restriction. A committment to OER is a powerful message which encourages skeptics to sit round the table and participate. I think there is also an important advocacy task --- the benefits of openness is not intuitive in a competive world. So folk have difficulty grasping how sharing can actually help individual organisations perform (or compete) better. mmmm --- I'm not an expert in your field, so its not easy for me to suggest practicle examples - but here are a few thoughts: 1) I wouldn't necessarily position OER as replacing traditional conferences or workshops. I would look at ways OER can support and improve efficiencies with the traditional approaches your community are familiar with. For example -- developing workshop materials as OER can assist in scalling up skills transfer on an international level. 2) I would scan activities of partners to see if you can identify areas of duplication with regards to content resources -- typically these are productive starting points for OER. 3) I would try to identify new initiatives which are important for partners -- this is also a good starting point because there are likely to be fewer vested interests which work against collaboration. 4) I would scan activities accross partners to see where collaboration can reduce cost or save time --- this is a good value proposition for individuals/organisations to engage. > > I'd like to hear your thoughts on how I can bring WE/OERs into the > health, medical education and conferencing industries. Speaking from experience -- the best way to find the answers is -- JUST DO IT! Open communities are self-organising systems and we learn by doing. By opening up, we discover innovative ways of doing things which we would not have been able to predict before hand. Select one or two small or doable pilots projects -- relflect on the experience and figure out how to tweak and refine the process so that it will scale. This is what we've done in WikiEducator and we're learning every day -- while getting better at what we do. As your ideas mature -- post them on the WE list, start a wiki page listing your ideas. Invite people you know in your networks to comment and provide feedback on improving what you're trying to do. In time -- the magic will happen! Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing how OER grows in your area. Feel free to ask for thoughts and ideas at any time. Our advice is Free -- and you're free to reject it as well :-) - gurmit > > On May 11, 4:32 am, Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi everyone, > > > > At last -- a long overdue update. > > > > Moving country with my family, starting a new job and setting up the OER > > Foundation (a new independent non-profit entity) have kept me away from > > active posting on our community list. Dealing with the withdrawal > symptoms > > of active participation on our list hasn't been easy ;-). I've also been > > pretty busy working on our first funding proposal to the William and > Flora > > Hewlett Foundation under a general operating support bid. > > > > The good news is that I will now be working full time in open education > > supporting WikiEducator in achieving its strategic objectives. > > > > Apology for the long post -- but lots of news to update the WE family. > > > > *Exciting futures for WikiEducator* > > > > The growth of WikiEducator has far outstripped reasonable expectations > and > > our strategic plans for the initiative. Our success is driven by a large > and > > growing number of educators around the world who spend hours volunteering > > time in support of the core value of education -- namely to share > knowledge > > freely. This commitment has enabled WE to claim the accolade of > spearheading > > the world's largest wiki training project in education under > > Learning4Content, not to mention hundreds of exemplary projects hosted on > > the WE site*! > > > > *As a result, WE have outgrown our founding home at the Commonwealth of > > Learning (COL) and will now be moving forward as an independent > initiative. > > This is a significant milestone and confirmation of our collective work. > > > > *Applauding COL's support for WikiEducator* > > > > On behalf of our community -- I would like to express our public thanks > to > > the Commonwealth of Learning for the foresight and commitment from an > > international agency in supporting a bold and progressive project. > > Notwithstanding the international success of WE, COL has remained true to > > its commitment to ensure a community governance model for the project. > There > > are few organisations in the world who measure performance by the > successful > > projects they allow to leave the nest and mature in their own right! > This > > attests to COL's commitment to learning for development. > > > > Moreover, COL has confirmed a financial contribution to the OER > Foundation > > to support WikiEducator's technical infrastructure (hardware and > software) > > for the next three years. Our collective success would not have been > > possible without COL's ongoing support. * > > > > My new role* *-- standing on the shoulders' of OER pioneers > > * > > As of 1 May 2009, I have taken up a new role as founding Director of the > > International Centre for Open Education based at Otago Polytechnic in New > > Zealand which we > > announced< > http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:OER_Foundation/About/Communi.. > .>back > > in September 2008 at the Open Education Conference in Utah. > > > > Otago Polytechnic is a global leader in the OER movement as evidenced by > an OER > > friendly intellectual property > > policy< > http://www.wikieducator.org/Otago_Polytechnic:_An_IP_policy_for_the_t...>. > > The pioneering work of our WE Community Council Members, Leigh Blackhall > and > > Bronwyn Hegarty, with support from Terry Marler at the Education > > Development Centre has been instrumental in establishing Otago > > Polytechnic's< > http://www.wikieducator.org/Otago_Polytechnic:WikiEducator_helps_adva.. > .>leadership > > in open education and supporting a large number of early adopters > > among teaching staff at our institution. > > > > While the major focus of my new role will be external, that is, building > > sustainable OER futures for WikiEducator -- I look forward to learning > from > > the wealth of experience from our open education mentors based here at > the > > Polytechnic. > > > > *The OER Foundation* > > > > The OER Foundation Limited is a new non-profit entity established to > support > > WikiEducator and open education. The OER Foundation is registered as a > > non-profit company and will be the legal entity for raising and > > administering funds to support our projects. The vision of the OER > > Foundation is to foster the development of a sustainable open education > > ecosystem --- after all, OER is a sustainable and renewable resource. > > > > The activities of the OER Foundation are restricted to charitable > education > > purposes and the Foundation will be subscribing to the practices of "open > > philanthropy< > http://commonspace.typepad.com/commonspace/2007/09/what-is-open-ph.html>" > > . > > > > In practical terms, this means that our planning documentation, funding > > proposals etc will be developed openly and transparently. In this regard, > > I've set up a page node for the OER Foundation on WE. You're not going to > > find much content there yet -- that's the point -- we'll be developing > this > > as we go along. Over the next few day's, I'll start populating these > pages > > so you can watch as we go along and if you have the time --- I'd welcome > > your help and support in moving this process forward. > > > > Bookmark the OER_Foundation planning page or add this to your watch lists > if > > you want to keep up to speed with what's happening: > > > > http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:OER_Foundation > > > > *Summary > > * > > > > - Wayne Mackintosh (Founder of WikiEducator) joins the International > > Centre for Open Education at Otago Polytechnic. > > - OER Foundation Limited, a new non-profit has been registered to > support > > the achievement of WikiEducator's objectives. > > - COL confirms it's financial contribution to support WE's technical > > infrastructure. > > - The OER Foundation has prepared and submitted a grant proposal for > > funding to the Hewlett Foundation (See:http://tinyurl.com/dekzu2) > > > > Again -- apology for the relative silence on the list these past months. > As > > you'll appreciate, I've have had a lot on my plate but its great to be > back > > again in full force! If there are any questions or suggestions -- please > > feel free to post these to the list, and we'll do our best to answer > them. > > > > Chat to you soon. > > Wayne > > > > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > > Director, > > International Centre for Open Education, > > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator,www.wikieducator.org > -- Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
