UNESCO-COL Chair for OER says OERu is the first practical implementation for cost-effective learning

[Wayne Mackintosh]

In  a recent interview in the UK, Professor Rory McGreal highlights cost effectiveness as the key to success of the OERu:

 

"Cost effectiveness is the key… How do we educate these 97 million learners … in a cost-effective manner? [OERu] .. is the first idea that I’ve seen that practical implementation is possible. And this could work. 

And the way it’d work is this: if we could get a cadre, so we get ten percent of them through, so that’s ten million students, but that means there’s a cadre of students who’ve done it, in all these little villages and towns all around the world, and they’re an example to the others, and then you can build on that and build on it and build, and that’s the way you do it. But not only that; we have developed self-motivated learners, and that’s what you need - you need a person who is a self motivated learner. That’s more important than anything they learn. And so we build that up and we’re away…"

--
Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D.
Director OER Foundation
Director, International Centre for Open Education,
Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
Founder and elected Community Council Member, WikiEducator
Mobile +64 21 2436 380
Skype: WGMNZ1
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[Wayne Mackintosh]

Hi Maria,

Thanks for the feedback on the UNESCO-OPAL meeting -- its good to know that the OERu model was well received in Paris. 

I'm very supportive of running more open planning sessions and welcome your suggestion.  It would be great if we could integrate this into the implementation planning for the OERu.

Fiscal sustainability has been an important foundation underpinning the conceptual design and development of the OERu model. (With apology -- I was an accountant in my first life, but proud to say I'm an educator by choice ;-). ).

Of course sustainable education practice encompasses much more than fiscal sustainability. This is a key strength of OER - it is a sustainable and renewable resource. Sustainability is a wide ranging and complex topic, andI am wondering whether we should consider tightening the focus for the asynchronous discussions with follow up webinar you are proposing. 

An immediate need for the OERu planning initiative is to design a framework proposal for Academic Volunteers International. One of the anchor partner decisions is to produce such a framework by the end of the year.  Although more focused, sustainability is an important facet of Academic Volunteers International (AVI).  Would it be possible to focus the seminar you are proposing as an open activity to help design the framework proposal for AVI? In this way open collaboration can feed directly into the OERu planning processes.

What do you think?

Today I posted the report on the Academic Volunteers International group from the OERu 2011.11 meeting. You can take a look here:

http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/2011.11_OERu_Meeting_summary#Proposal_for_Action:_Academic_volunteers_international

W

On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 12:52 AM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rory recently presented this message at the UNESCO OPAL meeting (November 14th). It was a well-received talk, from what I heard in people's discussions afterward. Peer-to-peer open education with OERu certification currently seems to be a very sustainable option that is worked out well enough to start implementation.

Wayne, at the meeting, I talked with some people about organizing a post-meeting seminar, in a format similar to what we do at Math Future or you do around OERu: asynchronous discussions, then a webinar. Sustainability seems an important conversation thread. The seminar should probably start after their big Berlin meeting early December. What do you think? 

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
919-388-1721

Make math your own, to make your own math

 

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