Hi Joyce, The OER Foundation will certainly be working with tertiary education institutions in transforming reward and incentive mechanisms for OER course development. In other words -- recognising OER course development at part of their work. The international exposure and networking through projects like WikiEducator is considerable and a value-added benefit in participating.
Already institutions make a considerable investment in course development under the traditional model. By releasing courses under free content licenses -- organisations don't loose anything, but have the potential to save time and cost by sharing existing OERs. So lets work together in making these futures happen! Cheers Wayne On 3 July 2010 18:41, <[email protected]> wrote: > I think that the effort to get institutions to allocate time and resources > to OER development is an excellent idea. In addition, I hope you will work > with them to put OER course and materials development into the criteria they > use for promotion and tenure. I think that many university faculty members > are reluctant to invest too much time in outside course development because > it does not "count" toward retaining and succeeding in our jobs. While many > people who are piecing together a variety of jobs would probably appreciate > the money, others who have full time work would probably appreciate having > their volunteer efforts recognized by their institutions. I know I would. > J. > > [email protected] wrote: ----- > > To: [email protected] > From: Wayne Mackintosh > Sent by: [email protected] > Date: 07/02/2010 10:41PM > > Subject: Re: [WikiEducator] Resource Repository > > Hi Cynthia, Joyce, Alison and Mallabibro > > All very good suggestions -- WE must get better at indexing, categorising > and labelling the degrees of completeness of our OER assets . In part -- > this is a problem of our exponential growth in that our capacity to respond > meaningfully to these needs has not kept pace with our growth. In some > respects, this is a good problem to have :-). > > *Thinking strategically* > > Apology for the long response --- but this is an important issue for both > WikiEducator and the OER Foundation. I'd like to share some of our strategic > thinking. > > WikiEducator uses an apprenticeship model in that users can improve their > competencies across a wide range of relevant areas (eg learning design, > technology, visual design, intellectual property issues etc.) Since our > inception WE've made a commitment to help and support all educators, > irrespective of their levels of expertise and prefer not to exercise value > judgements in the quality of content unless the user specially opts into a > quality review process. I think that investing in people through community > development will achieve sustainable results for the future. > > WE have two immediate challenges: > > > 1. *The complexity and inertia required to develop high quality > learning materials*, when compared, for instance to an encyclopedia > article. The effort required to author an open textbook is considerably > more > than collaborating on an article on Apples. Many contributors start with > excitement to develop a new course or textbook only to loose energy and > impetus. As a result we have a number of incomplete projects. Not all bad > -- > at least there is a starting point for future contributors. > 2. *Technology solutions geared to the needs of educators. *(This > refers to the usability of our technologies but also the requirements* > *which are unique to formal educational contexts.) * *The Mediawiki > software engine is very powerful and it is possible to find a number of > workaround solutions to many of these challenges, for example tweaking the > extensive range of Mediawiki extensions that are available to address these > needs. The downside is that many of these fixes require a level of > technical > competence for the user above the levels of the average wiki Newbie. > > *What are we doing to address these needs? * > > The OER Foundation is committed to finding solutions to these challenges. > Strategically, I think we need to focus on two priorities: > > > 1. *Increasing our capacity to compete the development of high quality > OERs*, designed for maximum reuse potential (both in terms of pedagogy > and delivery technology (e.g. using the same OER resources for print, > online > etc.). There are two things we can do to increase our capacity -- a) extend > our training opportunities to advance the skills of Wikieducators around > the > world to develop high quality materials and b) Increase the available time > educators can spend on developing OER. In this regard, the OER Foundation > has a two pronged strategy. First we will focus on raising sufficient > financial resources to compensate authors for completing high priority > content needs by paying for their time. Second, through our institutional > membership models we encourage and reward institutions for allocating staff > time to OER development as part of their jobs. So for example, you will see > that our Gold level membership is cheaper than our Silver level membership > because gold members allocate staff time to OER development. ( > http://wikieducator.org/OERF:Join). Our FTE4WikiEducator membership > category is also designed to increase the available time for OER > development > and reuse. > 2. *Smart technology solutions*. WE also need to invest time and money > into the software refinements which will enable us to achieve our > objectives. Our fund raising strategies and membership models will succeed > in helping us to improve our technologies. The OER Foundation is not wedded > to any specific technology --- if its open source and it will help us > achieve the vision of free education resources for all students of the > world > -- then we implement a tapestry of appropriate technical solutions to > support our work. > > We are very serious about getting OER right and have spent considerable > time and effort in getting the organisational foundations and infrastructure > right to achieve these objectives. The OER Foundation will be publishing its > inaugural annual report in the near future and you will see that we have a > very sold base to provide leadership, international networking and support > for educators and educational institutions to achieve their objectives > through OER :-). > > Exciting times! > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > On 3 July 2010 10:36, MALLAMIBRO <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I'd suggest an index be created of works on WE, classified by therir >> levels of completeness. >> Members interested in editing or in adding to such works could then >> have an easier way of finding them. >> It could be a good idea to introduce a "join a project" section to the >> L4C workshops where every participant will be expected to join in >> working on one of the projects requiring cleanups or additions. >> Ibrahim K. Oyekanmi >> >> On 7/2/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I am not sure I am talking about a top down approach. My model would >> > emphasize initial author control (at least at first). The primary >> author >> > would determine when to submit a piece for wide distribution, the >> process >> > you are suggesting could then be implemented, and these edited resources >> > could be presented in an easily searchable format. The broad >> wikieducator >> > could still be made accessible for those with the time and inclination >> to >> > mine it but such a preliminary screening/editing process would be >> helpful to >> > many people for whom time is an extremely valuable commodity. J. >> > >> > [email protected] wrote: ----- >> >> >> >> To: [email protected] >> >> From: Alison Snieckus >> >> Sent by: [email protected] >> >> Date: 07/02/2010 09:52AM >> >> Subject: Re: [WikiEducator] Resource Repository >> >> >> >> Hi Cynthia and Joyce, >> >> >> >> I also agree that it's difficult to find quality resources on >> >> WikiEducator. But they are there! And as WE grow and expand in >> membership, >> >> these high quality resources are sure to as well. >> >> >> >> An effort was started awhile back, before I joined, to create a way to >> >> identify, organize and feature quality WE resources. It's called the >> >> Quality Assurance Framework. >> >> >> >> I don't think the program was ever implemented, at least in any major >> way. >> >> I'd be interested to be part of a group to get a QA framework (like the >> >> one outlined) working on WE, maybe beginning with a limited pilot. >> >> >> >> Anyone else interested? >> >> Alison >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 9:15 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >> >>> I agree that there is too much to search through now so this sounds >> like >> >>> a good idea to me. Give the authors the opportunity to put completed >> >>> work somewhere that is easily accessible yet still editable by people >> who >> >>> want to adapt it to their own circumstances? J. >> >>> >> >>> [email protected] wrote: ----- >> >>>> >> >>>> To: WikiEducator <[email protected]> >> >>>> From: Cynthia >> >>>> Sent by: [email protected] >> >>>> Date: 07/01/2010 10:32PM >> >>>> Subject: [WikiEducator] Resource Repository >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> Dear friends, >> >>>> There is so much on WE. Many contributions are fabulous. Sadly a good >> >>>> number are incomplete or poorly done. Of course editing them is an >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> option. I wonder if we could have a WE library for completely done >> >>>> good works to be featured? or is there such a repository? If one were >> >>>> to look out for good and complete matter, he/she needn't sift through >> >>>> >> >>>> incomplete or mediocre work. Please guide as I am only a month old at >> >>>> >> >>>> WE. >> >>>> User Name: Agnes >> >>>> Cynthia D'Costa >> >>>> >> >>>> -- >> >>>> 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] >> >>> >> >>> -- >> >>> 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] >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> 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] >> > >> > -- >> > 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] >> >> >> -- >> MALLAMIBRO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY >> P O BOX 13145 >> KANO G P O >> KANO >> NIGERIA TEL : +234-808-227-7575; +234-702-581-8401 >> http://www.mallamibro.webs.com >> >> http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Mallamibro >> >> email: [email protected] >> >> -- >> 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] >> > > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > Director, > International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Board of Directors, OER Foundation. > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > User Page: http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > -- > 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] > > -- > 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] > -- Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. Board of Directors, OER Foundation. Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org Mobile +64 21 2436 380 User Page: http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg Skype: WGMNZ1 Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg -- 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]
