Dear OER colleagues
Thank you so much to all those of you who have completed the
TOUCANS project survey on the OER university concept. If you haven’t yet done
the survey and were planning to do so, this is just to let you know that it
closes at close of play on Mon 28th May.
The survey is aimed at identifying UK HEI perceptions of the
OER university (OERu) concept, in which 15 institutions globally are
collaborating to offer at-cost assessment and accreditation services to informal
learners on a mass scale, based on open educational resources (OERs). This
research is being carried out as part of the TOUCANS project, which is a
HEFCE-funded SCORE fellowship, and in collaboration with the University of
Southern Queensland, Australia.
While
the OERu is being used as a reference point for this survey, there are a number
of similar initiatives under way globally, and within many UK HEIs, senior
management is already discussing the possible advantages and disadvantages of
participating in such partnerships. A benefit of doing the survey is that it
will enable you to estimate a “compatibility” score for your institution with
the OERu concept (i.e. the concept of providing at-cost assessment and
accreditation services around OERs to a mass-scale audience). Once you have
completed the survey, you will receive a PDF of your responses, which you will
be able to map against a benchmarking tool that is being developed concurrently
and will be sent to you shortly. Please remember to give your email at the end
of the survey if you wish to be sent the PDF and the benchmarking tool.
The
survey is at http://sgiz.mobi/s3/2ce8e34546a7
.
Thank you so much – I really appreciate your support!
Gabi
PS. You don’t need any specialist knowledge of the OERu to
do the survey, but if you do want a bit more background info, please see “Five things you should know
about the OERu”.
Gabi Witthaus
SCORE Research Fellow
Beyond Distance Research Alliance
University of Leicester
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 5745
Website: http://www.le.ac.uk/toucans
TOUCANS project blog: http://toucansproject.wordpress.com
Open Learning News blog: http://www.scoop.it/t/open-learning-news
Twitter: @twitthaus