Introduction (OCWC Houston)

Universities working together to advance education and empower people

Open Sharing, Global Benefits

February 6, 2009 Terri Bays—OCW Consortium


I. Who are we?

II. What are we doing here?

III. Where are we going from here?

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009


Who Are We?—The OCW Movement

An Opencourseware (OCW) is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world.

• OCW is not a distance-learning initiative: there are no degrees granted, no student/faculty interactions and no transcripts.

• OCW is a collection of high-quality learning materials presented in the form of courses.

• OCW materials are there for the taking and for transformation.



• Syllabi• Readings• Lecture notes• Tests/quizzes• Lectures (video, audio)• etc…

OCW can be fully instructional, but does not need to be.

But OCW does not:

• Provide access to faculty• Grant credit, a certificate, or

a degree.

The OCW Movement —OCW is composed of…



Who are we?—Your Partners in OER

OCW is only one type of Open Educational Resource (OER).

OERs are only one type of Open Content.

We have much to share with each other.

OpenEducationalResources

Open Content

OCW



The OCW Consortium—Mission

The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium has been to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.


The OCW Consortium

• < 100 live OCW sites

• < 7,000 courses

http: ocwconsortium.org


The OCW Consortium—GrowthGrowth in Official Membership Since April 2008


The OCW Consortium—GrowthGrowth by Region Since April, 2008


The OCW Consortium—GrowthNumber of Courses Since October, 2003


The OCW Consortium—New Members in the Americas

• Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería

• University of Alaska Fairbanks

• Open Institute of Law, International.

• Universidad de Manizales

• Fundação Getulio Vargas - FGV Online

• Universidad de Chile• Universidad

Metropolitana• Universidad Monteávila• Universidad Nacional

Experimental del Táchira• Universidad Fermín Toro

• Instituto Technologico de las Americas



The OCW Consortium—Members

• Institutional Members commit to publishing, under the institution's name, materials from at least 10 courses in a format that meets the agreed-upon definition of an opencourseware.

• Affiliate Members either publish courses in an area other than higher ed. (e.g. corporate training or K-12) or engage in activities that further Consortium goals (e.g. software development, translation, distribution or regional support).



Benefits of Membership—Consultation

• Whether you’re just starting your OCW site or fine tuning an existing site, the OCWC is available to help you out.

• OCWC conferences and ongoing forums provide OCWC members the opportunity to share solutions and best practices.

• The OCW Toolkit provides recommendations and tools for OCW development.



Benefitsof Membership—Collaboration

• The OCWC provides administrative support and space for Working Groups gathered around areas of common interest, such as Evaluation, Accessibility or Intellectual Property.

• The OCWC encourages members to report on nascent projects to allow time and opportunities for collaboration.



Benefits of Membership—Collective Visibility

• The OCWC Website provides direct links to the sites of its members.

• The OCW Course Finder allows users to search across OCWC member sites.

• The OCWC develops e-visibility guidelines for members.

• OCWC members share media exposure.



Benefits of Membership—Sustainability

• Sharing best practices among OCWC members promotes quality and efficiency within individual projects.

• Resource-Sharing across OCWC members cuts down on duplication of cost, effort and expertise.

• OCWC discussions assist members in articulating the value of OCW to their home institutions.



I. Who are we?





What are we doing here?


What are we doing here?—Connexions

• Institutions using Connexions as a platform for OCW

• Connections between the two communities



Current Projects—OCWC Toolkit

http://www.ocwconsortium.org/toolkit

(Toolbox photo by skitz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skistz/398429879/sizes/l/. Released under CC-BY.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skistz/398429879/sizes/l/




Current Projects—Discipline-Based Content Collaborations

• OER Health

• GEM4• Bioinformatics• International Association for Political

Science Students



Current Projects—Technological Collaborations

• Social Sourcing of eduCommons

• Social Networking Tools for Users

• Metadata Tools and Standards• Accessibility Tools

• IP and Workflow Management Tools



Current Projects—Fair Use Working Group

• Sharing of Best Practices in Intellectual Property Management

• Tool Development• Development and Articulation of

Community Standards within and across Legal Jurisdictions



I. Who are we?





21-24April, Monterrey Mexico

. . / 2009www ocwconsortium org monterrey


/ Paper Workshop Proposals Due 16February

. . / 2009www ocwconsortium org monterrey


Where are we going?—MissionThe mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.

The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance formal and informal learning through the worldwide sharing and use of free, open, high-quality education materials organized as courses.Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009


Where are we going?—Goals

1. Increase the quantity of OpenCourseWare materials available

2. Increase the value of OpenCourseWare materials to all users worldwide

3. Build and enable an OCW movement and connect it to the wider OER community

4. Improve the Consortium infrastructure



Where are we going?—Initiatives• Put knowledge online for

producers (e.g. best practices, tools, techniques, etc).

• Foster a broad selection of, and growing quantity of, courses.

• Promote OCW through both mass media (e.g. public relations) and through advocacy.



Where are we going?—Initiatives• Articulate and understand

user demand for all types of users.

• Make OCW offerings efficiently and effectively discoverable across the web, including the support of appropriate taxonomies, metadata.



Where are we going?—Initiatives• Help under-resourced

countries and institutions fully participate in OCWC

• Organize and support rich, direct communication with the OCW community, including creating mechanisms that foster and help weave together a distributed OCW movement.



Thank You!Visit The OpenCourseWare Consortium portal athttp://www.ocwconsortium.org

Contact the Consortium at:[email protected]