Thanks Nellie, I noticed you were raising similar questions with participants at the OERu 2011.11 meeting in the UStream<http://wikieducator.org/OERF:2011.11_OERu_Anchor_Partner_Meeting_Backchannel> chat.
I imagine that some chat participants may not be as well versed in the functioning of the open model, so I'll answer a few of the questions you posted for the benefit of the members of these lists. *nelliemuller* Who is going to pay the bills to run the OER? The OER Foundation is a registered educational charity. The Foundation supports the infrastructure for flagship projects like WikiEducator and the OERTen network. We derive income from institutional membership contributions, government contracts, public donations and philanthropic grants for strategic open education projects. We are still recruiting members to ensure a self-sustainable model that is not reliant on external funding. The OER Foundation has only two full-time staff, but fortunately hundreds of volunteers around the world who donate time freely to widening access and sharing knowledge. In the past, we have been fortunate in receiving external funding support for the capacity building projects like the Learning4Content training workshops where we paid facilitators to provide free learning opportunities for anyone who registered for these courses. To date we have not receive any fees from students participating in any of our online workshops. Numerous workshops have been presented by volunteer facilitators and we commend the gifting culture of these folk. I'll answer a few of the questions you posted in the Ustream chat during the meeting. *nelliemuller* so students do not pay the OERu, they pay their univesities, but what about those who do not belong to a uni? Under the OERu model, students who do are not formerly enrolled at a university for assessment and credential services have no obligation to pay anybody anything. They are informal learners. The OERTen network provides these learning opportunities as a gift under our respective community service missions. Note that the OERu will not confer degrees or qualifications -- the anchor partners will provide assessment services and award the degrees. *nelliemuller* I get the feeling that it will take years of "talking" before I see anything up there. Not true, there are literally thousands of courses available, for instance, under the OCWC initiative, the Saylor Foundation courses, Washington State's open course library project, the British Open University's OpenLearn initiative etc. So already there is a lot up there. The OERu will provide assessment services leading to credible credentials using these existing materials. We will be implementing the OERu pilot offerings in 2012 preparing for the official international launch in 2013. I wish it could be faster - -but we believe this is a realistic and achievable target. *nelliemuller* again, what if I want to get credit but am not affliated with a uni, whom do I pay? In the future, if an OER learner wants to get formal credit for their learning, they could approach an accredited institution in the formal sector who would provide these services under their standard RPL practices, or approach institutions working in the non-formal sector who might accredit this type of learning, or emerging models like the Mozilla badges system . Some learners may choose to acquire credit from OERu anchor partners. Where payment is required, the learners will pay the service provider (i.e. the institution providing the credit and credential services). I imagine that many learners may choose to learn informally without aiming to get credit from any institution. In this case, learners would not need to pay anyone. In time, it is not unreasonable to assume, that some governments might provide subsidy for their citizens choosing an assessment-only model for their formal learning. We will be lobbying our government in New Zealand to consider this approach. *nelliemuller* I would like to get credit and then apply to a uni Unfortunately, this would not be possible in many national jurisdictions as the authority for awarding credit towards qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework is regulated by Government , and these are typically the publicly funded tertiary education institutions. Private training providers may offer credit, but these credits are not necessarily recognised by the national qualifications framework in the respective countries. Some countries use different systems. Ultimately, the economy and society determine the token value of a credential. In many fields, work experience and informal learning count more than formal credentials. So learners will decide what paths are best suited to their needs. *nelliemuller* I'm thinking of the students who cannot afford the uni tuition, who wish to learn, get credit for what they learn via the OER platform like wikieducator. The OERu is a response to provide more affordable education opportunities for learners who may not be able to afford the full-tuition costs of traditional full-time study. We estimate, depending on the discipline of study, that this could be as low as 20% of the current tuition costs for full-time study in many Countries. Remember that the OERu anchor partners will not be getting government subsidy for recouping the costs of assessment services. So this will need to be recovered on a fee for service basis. These institutions need to pay faculty who are providing the services. I hope that global philanthropy will be able to provide scholarships for those students who cannot afford the reduced fees or that Governments will consider amending the funding formulas to accommodate these needs. *nelliemuller* who will be able to access the resources, paid or unpaid or both? All learners and interested persons worldwide will be able to access these resources at no cost (gratis) with the freedom (liberty) to reuse, modify and adapt the resources for any purpose. *nelliemuller* I get the feeling that the organizations are trying to pool resources as a closed group I can't speak for all organisations, but the OERu anchor partners will be assembling courses from OER freely accessible on the open web and would hardly be able to pool resources as a closed group. As you know, in the case of the OER Foundation, we subscribe to the free cultural works licensing which means we will not be locking resources down using closed file formats. I hope that the open web will make multiple copies of OERu courses and replicate these on as many repositories as possible so we can share knowledge for the benefit of society. *nelliemuller* OER4O *nelliemuller* Open Education Resources for Organizations :) The licensing of the OERs would not restrict these resources for organisations. They are free for all people for any purpose. *nelliemuller* it's going to be for the organizations that join the OER movement *nelliemuller* and their students *nelliemuller* Yes, learners of the OER organizations The OER will be free for all. Should these learners choose to get formal credit for their informal learning, they would be free to choose an OERu anchor partner for assessment and credential services as well as the freedom to consider any other form of recognition available on the open web. *nelliemuller* we are planning? Who is the "we" The "we" refers to anybody who is willing to participate meaningfully in the planning process and to be accountable for their contributions. I hope this clarifies some of your questions. I was pretty busy during the meeting and did not have an opportunity to respond live during the chat stream. So I apologise for my tardy response. 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> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 Skype: WGMNZ1 Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/Mackiwg> | identi.ca<http://identi.ca/waynemackintosh> Wikiblog <http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg/Blog> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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