Wayne, As usual, you have thought out this important issue and are very thorough. Your response is helpful to me and I appreciate your time. Yes, I find OER very valuable and will continue to help.
Best wishes, Gene On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 11:01 PM, Wayne Mackintosh < mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Gene, > > Certification and review of OER is a complex issue. That said, no more > complex in OER than for closed-resources ;-) > > A couple of thoughts: > > 1) Merlot is not primarily a hosting repository of materials -- the > vast majority of resources accessed through Merlot are hosted on > external sites. So for example you could find the OER Handbook for > Educators on Merlot (http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm? > id=335365 <http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?%0Aid=335365>) > which is hosted on WikiEducator. > > 2) Frankly -- Merlot's intellectual property policy is confusing. The > site says that resources are licensed under "Creative Commons > Licensing conditions" -- but when you read the detail (http:// > taste.merlot.org/acceptableuserpolicy.html) there are a raft of > different conditions for different categories of users. In the case of > WikiEducator -- we have a values-based position on licensing. We only > use licenses which meet the free cultural works definition. In > Creative Commons terms that means CC0, CC-BY or CC-BY-SA. Of course > materials dedicated to the public domain are welcomed. > > 3) Merlot is not the only act in town in so far as being an access > point for open access materials. The OER Commons (http:// > www.oercommons.org/) also provide search, find and rating services. > Creative Commons have also been working on an interesting project > called DiscoverEd (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/DiscoverEd). An > innovative group called Folksemantic (http://www.folksemantic.com/) > are also working on exciting new technologies. The issue is, that in > the case of OER -- it doesn't matter where the resource are hosted. > From the OER Foundation's perspective we encourage all OER developers > to use open content licenses and free file formats as the building > blocks for a sustainable OER ecosystem. > > 4) In my personal view -- certification and credentialing is not the > function of OER per se -- that's what education institutions should be > doing. Education institutions are free to choose the learning > materials they prescribe or recommend for their students (both closed > and open materials.) So for example, WikiEducator hosts a number of > course materials where students can obtain certifications from the > institutions that teach these OER courses. I also look forward to > seeing Joyce's thoughts on recognition of prior learning where > institutions can assess learning experience gained from free and open > OER courses hosted on WikiEducator and other open projects like P2PU, > Wikiversity etc. > > 5) WE need to get better at providing users the opportunity to rate > and rank materials developed and hosted in WE. We are exploring > alternatives that will scale and work well in the formal education > sector. > > Above all -- I think the most important value for WE to endorse and > promote is the freedom to create. That means giving all educators in > the world the permission to create and reuse learning materials for > their purpose. While the formal sector rightly places strong emphasis > on peer review, credentials etc -- we must be wary of using this as an > excuse to restrict permissions and the freedoms of individuals to > create their own teaching materials. In the same breath, we should > also be creative in finding effective ways for the community to rate > quality without imposing restrictions on the creation process. > > WE're making good progress - one step at a time. With your help and > support - we're going to get better :-) > > Cheers > Wayne > > > On Oct 29, 2:36 pm, gene loeb <genel...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I think it will be appropriate to initiate a certifying body and > reviewers > > if tht is not already done the reviews like being Merlot. > > Just a thought. > > Gene > > > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 1:17 AM, Carina <carina.bo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > I'm currently compiling some information about the development of > > > OERs, which will be available on WikiEducator shortly for those who > > > wish to comment on and add to it. But, I wonder if you know any > > > program/institution/organisation at a tertiary level that offers > > > credentials or certification for courses/units or modules that are > > > OERs. > > > > > There are some free courses available on the Internet (e.g. > > >http://alison.com/course/), but I’m not sure if they are OERs. > > > > > Your thoughts and comments on this issue are much appreciated. > > > > > Thanks, > > > Carina > > > > > -- > > > 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 wikieducator@googlegroups.com > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > > > -- > > With Sincerest Best Wishes , > > > > Gene > > Gene Loeb, Ph.D. > > -- > 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 wikieducator@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > -- With Sincerest Best Wishes , Gene Gene Loeb, Ph.D. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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