Open Sharing, Global Benefits

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Open Sharing, Global Benefits
February 6, 2009 Terri BaysOCW Consortium
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• Who are we?
• What are we doing here?
• Where are we going from here?

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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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.

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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The OCW Movement OCW is composed of

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

• But OCW does not
• Provide access to faculty
• Grant credit, a certificate, or a degree.

OCW can be fully instructional, but does not
need to be.
Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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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.

Open Content
Open Educational Resources
OCW
Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 3, 2009
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The OCW ConsortiumMission

• 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.

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The OCW Consortium

http ocwconsortium.org
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The OCW ConsortiumGrowth

• Growth in Official Membership Since April 2008

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The OCW ConsortiumGrowth

• Growth by Region Since April, 2008

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The OCW ConsortiumGrowth

• Number of Courses Since October, 2003

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The OCW ConsortiumNew 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

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The OCW ConsortiumMembers

• 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).

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Benefits of MembershipConsultation

• Whether youre 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.

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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Benefitsof MembershipCollaboration

• 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.

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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Benefits of MembershipCollective 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.

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Benefits of MembershipSustainability

• 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.

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• Who are we?
• What are we doing here?
• Where are we going from here?

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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What are we doing here?
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What are we doing here?Connexions

• Institutions using Connexions as a platform for
  OCW
• Connections between the two communities

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Current ProjectsOCWC Toolkit
(Toolbox photo by skitz http//www.flickr.com/pho
tos/skistz/398429879/sizes/l/. Released under
CC-BY.)

• http//www.ocwconsortium.org/toolkit

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Current ProjectsDiscipline-Based Content
Collaborations

• OER Health
• GEM4
• Bioinformatics
• International Association for Political Science
  Students

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Current ProjectsTechnological Collaborations

• Social Sourcing of eduCommons
• Social Networking Tools for Users
• Metadata Tools and Standards
• Accessibility Tools
• IP and Workflow Management Tools

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Current ProjectsFair Use Working Group

• Sharing of Best Practices in Intellectual
  Property Management
• Tool Development
• Development and Articulation of Community
  Standards within and across Legal Jurisdictions

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• Who are we?
• What are we doing here?
• Where are we going from here?

Open Sharing, Global Benefits February 6, 2009
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April 21-24Monterrey, Mexico

• www.ocwconsortium.org/monterrey2009

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Paper / WorkshopProposals DueFebruary 16

• www.ocwconsortium.org/monterrey2009

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Where are we going?Mission

• The 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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Thank You! Visit The OpenCourseWare Consortium
portal at http//www.ocwconsortium.org Contact
the Consortium at feedback_at_ocwconsortium.org