Hi Everyone, Stephen Downe's is absolutely right: "The dichotomy is not between proprietary content and open content, ... but between institutionally manufactured content and community-based content".
Stephen has expressed his disappointment <http://www.downes.ca/post/54313>at the recent UNESCO/COL Policy Forum convened in Paris -- the last in a series of online discussions and workshops aimed at taking OER beyond the OER community (http://oerworkshop.weebly.com/). I share Steven's dissapointment at the closedness and lack of foresight and understanding of the real issues and challenges we face in mainstream organisational adoption of OER. There has been no substantive opportunity for OER practitioners and leaders from around the world to engage in a community-based approach in designing and collaborating on the plans for taking OER forward. Where is the open and collaborative planning under this initiative happening for sustainable OER futures? We need to transcend the "talk-shop" mentality and move forward with open collaboration and a healthy dose of open philanthropy<http://wikieducator.org/Open_Philanthropy>. The open web is the most powerful enabler we have for social and organisational transformation in achieving sustainable OER futures. I guess agencies are free to use closed models for designing open futures behind closed doors -- but they don't get it. This perpetuates the status quo at the expense of widening access to learning for the 4 billion people of the world who are undeserved when it comes to formal education. I'm disillusioned with the absence of *open* collaboration among mainstream OER initiatives and suggest that this is one of the major barriers in building a sustainable OER infrastructure and ecosystem because we refuse to use our point of difference when compared to closed models -- namely the freedom to collaborate. If we are serious about getting out of OERs "valley of death <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_funding>" we must shift our thinking from sharing for learning, to learning to SHARE. In fields like OER, it is more important to learn how to receive than to give away. Single organisation-based OER projects will do more to maintain the status quo, than transform education for the better. I think its time to take the "OER implementation challenge" by the horns and make the future happen. Consider the facts: 1. The marginal cost of replicating digital knowledge is near zero. 2. It is far cheaper for ten institutions and individuals to collaborate on the development (community approach) than one institution trying to manufacture an OER course on their own. Its an order of magnitude cheaper when 100 individuals work together as a community to achieve a common goal. 3. The traditional institutional model cannot respond to the demand for education on our planet. We simply don't have enough money to build the institutions to even begin to address this demand -- yet we have the technology at our disposal to provide free learning to every person on the planet. Why is there a reluctance (or refusal) by educational leaders of taxpayer-funded organisations to save cost and widen access to learning, notwithstanding these obvious facts? I cannot find any rational reason other than the notion that we are dealing with a classic text-book case of the "innovator's dilemma<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology>". The antennas of educational leadership and organisations around the world are so tuned to responding to the existing closed market signals of the classical education model -- that they simply "cannot see" the immediate efficiency gains for a better education system which is free and open. The literature on transformational management when organisations are faced with fundamental change precipitated by disruptive technology suggests that it is not easy to transform from within the organisation :-(. However, organisations can and do change when faced with a crisis. The OER movement needs a catalyst -- a quantum shift project that will help educational leaders and policy-makers open up education. But more importantly embrace leadership and take the responsibility to lead. I propose that we initiate an OER collaboration by design and establish a free and open university for the world. This is not an institution in the conventional sense of the word, but a collaboration of like minded individuals and institutions who will collaborate openly on the remix (or development) of high-quality open distance learning materials designed for independent study. Learners around the world will be free to study at no cost . We should collaborate on achieving an inventory of OERs linked to the graduate profiles of real credentials and invite institutions from the formal sector who would be willing to provide assessment and credit for greatly reduced cost when compared to the normal offerings. In this way we address the impasse of gaining credit for free learning. This is by no means new or revolutionary thinking --- we just haven't succeeded in scaling this up in a way that will support mainstream adoption of OER in our instutions. In the spirit of open philanthropy and a healthy does of the open source approach of releasing early and frequently -- we are working on draft concepts here: http://wikieducator.org/OER_for_Assessment_and_Credit_for_Students . The OER Foundation, Otago Polytechnic and the University of Southern Queensland will be hosting a strategic planning meeting in Dunedin, New Zealand on 23 February 2011 to progress this agenda. We will develop the strategy and operational plans openly and transparently in the wiki under a project called "OER for assessment and credit for students". We extend an open invitation to international agencies like COL and UNESCO to join us. We extend an open invitation to all formerly registered tertiary education providers of the world to join us. We expect collaborators to play by the rules of the game<http://wikieducator.org/OER_for_Assessment_and_Credit_for_Students>because we are serious about the mainstream adoption of OER and getting this right. Let's make OER futures happen :-). Cheers Wayne -- Wayne Mackintosh <http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg>, Ph.D. Director OER Foundation <http://www.oerfoundation.org> Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. Founder and elected Community Council Member, Wikieducator<http://www.wikieducator.org%20> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 Skype: WGMNZ1 Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/Mackiwg> | identi.ca<http://identi.ca/waynemackintosh> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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