The OER university credentialing , my position and interactions

By Paul Stacey - Sunday, 28 August 2011, 09:50 AM

The possibility of defining a credential using OER is intriguing. There are a variety of post secondary credentials that could be developed including certificates, diplomas, bachelor's degrees and graduate degrees. Most jurisdictions around the world have established a framework for post secondary credentials. See the Ontario Qualification Framework for example. For each credential the framework defines a range of attributes including admission requirements, duration of study (expressed as number of instructional hours), and depth and breadth of knowledge. OERu accrediting institutions, such as the existing anchor partners, will likely be working within a similar framework. One approach to defining OER credentials is to structure them in such a way that they align with these frameworks. Do you think OERu should focus on using these frameworks or design credentials in a different way? A great deal of the OER currently available have not been developed as complete credentials. Instead OER are largely courses or more typically course components. A challenge in designing an OERu credential is assembling these smaller units into a coherent credential framework. So lets say I want to use the Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative OER in creating a credential. If you access the For Students section of their site they explicitly state what is being made available. Course Materials, Simulations, Computer Based Tutors, Virtual Laboratories, Self-Assessments, and Formative Feedback are all freely available to students as OER. But look at what isn't part of the OER - Access to an Instructor, Graded Exams, Tracks Student-Learning as Feedback for Instructors, Credit/Verification of Course Completion. So a significant challenge around using these OER resources in creating a credential is fulfilling all the elements not part of the OER. OERu anchor partners have the opportunity to take on any or all of these elements as part of their role. I've jumped right in to the deep end of this Designing OERu Credentials so let me stop there and ask all of you some questions: What are your ideas for designing an OERu credential? What do you think the first OERu credential should be? What existing OER do you see being used for that credential? How would your institution or the OERu anchor institutions support students pursuing that credential? Paul By Yves Simon - Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 04:41 PM I don't think the OERu credentials should be based on the same ones as those of the traditional universities. An open education institution as in the case of an OER university should be me more open than existing open education institutions. The admission requirements, the number of hours that a student is required to take for a course, assignment of grades,etc don't fit in the open world. I think the OERu credentials should reflect the realities of the 21st century where learning doesn't necessarily take place behind closed doors thanks to the information technology where information can be accessed anytime and anywhere. Many working people don't have time to go to regular universities. Others are living in remote areas, can't afford the high costs of higher education or simply disenchanted by the frustrations of the current educational system. Many bright, talented people around the world are yearning for independent learning that can be credentialed because of the culture in which we are living. Credentials should be based on learner's trust and engagement, the presentation of a portfolio, credits for previous courses taken disregarding of their oldness and life experiences,etc. The credentials should encourage lifelong learning and the fact that learning is not limited by time, space, grades, diplomas, degrees, status, etc. Learning is a natural activity of animated beings. By Rory McGreal - Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 05:53 PM Yves, That is fine. There is room for both. Those students who want to have their learning and experience accredited by traditional institutions will be able to apply to OERu. Those that don't can either choose not to have their learning recognized or pick other alternative assessments as they emerge. All the best. Rory By Wayne Mackintosh - Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 08:01 PM Yves Simon wrote, An open education institution as in the case of an OER university should be me more open than existing open education institutions. This is an interesting line of conversation. There are strong similarities and synergies between the history of distance education, open learning and what we commonly refer to as the "Open universities". This pre-dated the open content and OER movement. The University of South Africa (Unisa) became the world's first single-mode distance teaching university in 1946 -- Predating the British Open University by two decades. The point being that there is a long organisational history of open universities. The concept of open learning refers to the policies and practices which remove the barriers to learning but it is also strongly based on a learner-centred philosophy of teaching. The large single-mode distance education universities, are often called open universities because they subscribe to the philosophy of open learning but in addition the separation of time and place in distance education as a mode of delivery makes them more open because learners can learn at any time, any place etc. Many open universities do not have admission requirements. With the advent of digital technologies, elearning etc -- there has been prolific growth in traditional face-to-face institutions offering more flexible and blended learning options. It is also interesting to note that the majority of founding anchor partners of the OER university are in fact open universities (for example: Empire State College, New York's open university; Athabasca University, Canada's open university; Thompson Rivers University, with strong historical connections to distance education through the BC Centre for Open Learning, the University of Southern Queensland, Australis leading distance education provider with 75% of students studying by distance (online) education; and the University of South Africa - -the worlds first open university.) So when you say "OERu credentials should not be based on the same ones as those of the traditional universities" -- do you mean the delivery model associated with traditional face-to-face institutions? For example, you can earn a degree at Athabasca university without ever visiting the Athabasca university campus in Alberta. There are no admission requirements and Athabasca university learners will be able to "complete" a number of course credits through their prior learning and assessment models thus gaining credit for learning outside the classroom. All the open university anchor partner of the OERu are more open than traditional universities. However the credential (i.e. the university degree) is of equal standing when compared to the same degree earned at a conventional institution. With regards to the OERu initiative, quality assurance and institutional accreditation is the foundation stone on which we are building the network. With regards to the OERu network, in our view we must ensure equivalence and parity of esteem for qualifications gained through the OERu network. We believe that we owe this to OERu learners, that is our qualifications must have the same stature and marketability of the qualifications earned from conventional or traditional institutions. Given the flexibility of the OERu model, we will be able to incorporate portfolios, be able to structure the learning sequences in ways which facilitate work-based learning etc. However -- the degrees earned through the OERu network will be of equal standing to any university degree conferred by any of the top 100 universities of the world. By Prince Obiri-Mainoo - Wednesday, 31 August 2011, 10:06 PM  So when you say "OERu credentials should not be based on the same ones as those of the traditional universities" -- do you mean the delivery model associated with traditional face-to-face institutions? For example, you can earn a degree at Athabasca university without ever visiting the Athabasca university campus in Alberta. There are no admission requirements and Athabasca university learners will be able to "complete" a number of course credits through their prior learning and assessment models thus gaining credit for learning outside the classroom. All the open university anchor partner of the OERu are more open than traditional universities. While I share most of the views expressed by Yves and also Wayne's explanation above, the problem with majority of traditional universities and employers is seeing degrees awarded by such universities as Athabasca that accept prior learning experiences as sub-standard and therefore when it comes to applying for further studies or jobs it becomes a problem to such applicants. This is especially so with the so-called elite/premier universities in the developing world where I happen to be involved with in the promotion of e-learning, especially by OERu and OERs generally. I wish that this problem could be addressed as well as we discuss the issue of credentials and accreditation because at the end of the day, the degree should be seen as authentic and of the same standard as the traditional ones and to enable such graduates to gain employment or accepted for further studies. Prince Obiri-Mainoo By Yves Simon - Thursday, 8 September 2011, 09:19 PM I am sorry for responding late. I didn't have time to go to the discussions and I couldn't find the thread associated to my post. I hope you will be able to read my reply. I am mostly talking about assessment of learning. Originally I was thinking the OERu as an entity by itself that would assess self-learners'knowledge through independent learning through OER and/or other learning materials and validate that knowledge by a degree but it seems that there are the traditional attendance and the non-attendance. But what about validating knowledge of people who can demonstrate what they learn independently and through networked learning? For example people like Lisa Chamberlin, Leigh Blackall, etc are modeling examples of how to obtain a PhD degree through self-learning and networked learning. Lisa mentioned in her blog that she is not interested in using her independent study to get an academic position nor to put the title Ph.D in front of her name. That's wise from her but why not? I don't know her personally but having read her blog and being in the same social network I am sure that she has the competence and knowledge to be treated as equal to anybody else who has a Ph.D once she gets her degree. Blackall as an university professor at Canberra university in Australia is doing a Ph.D by publication. This model is very known in England for university professors but it is not practiced at all in United States and many other countries in the world. Why not expanding it to people who are not university professors?. There is also the Ph.D degree "by research only" also well known in England but not in United States and many other parts of the world. Auto-didactism, networked learning, other alternative education theories are all part of the theories of Philosophy of Education. Why are idealism and pragmatism the predominant theories in Education throughout the world? Kamenetz mentioned in her DIY Education guide the equivalents of the credentials of the traditional universities. For example the socialization in traditional universities are equivalent to study groups at P2PU and many others. Recognition of academic competence can be earned through reputed social networks. I would suggest this guide to the people responsible at the OERu as a guide to completely open universities. I continue to mention the higher access to open while privileging competence. For me the open education movement should educate the academic world and the society at large that competence should not be limited to BS, MA, Ph.D, grades, diplomas, degrees, etc. Knowlege and competence are more than that. We should go beyond those myths in the 21st century. As a matter of fact most of the successfull people in the materialistic world don't have those credentials and there are many autdidacts in the academic world. It is time to change those myths and I think that should pass by the open education movement. By Wayne Mackintosh - Thursday, 8 September 2011, 11:16 PM Hi Yves, Glad you could join us and no need for late apologies. Yves Simon wrote, As a matter of fact most of the successful people in the materialistic world don't have those credentials and there are many autdidacts in the academic world. It is time to change those myths and I think that should pass by the open education movement. You are right, many successful people including leading scholarly thinkers who have had a major impact on the world did not have a PhDs. A PhD is a rite of passage in the apprenticeship of knowledge production within a particular epistemology and understanding of knowledge. Openness is deeply rooted in the traditions of this form of knowledge production. Any traditional research worth their salt knows the finding the answer to a perplexing research questions begins with a literature review or study on the current state of thinking. In other words we build on the open ideas of others in the pursuit of new knowledge. That said, a conventional PhD is but one path of knowledge acquisition is not necessarily better than any other paths of knowledge pursuit and anyone who holds a PhD will know this (even thought they may not be prepared to admit is.) So I do agree with you -- in the 21st we must go beyond the conventional forms of knowledge pursuit and societies recognition of how knowledge was acquired and credentialed. I must concede that the OERu network is working within our own limitations -- We will not be able to resolve or find answers to all the questions and suggestions you raise. Of necessity, given government legislation and requirements for credible credentials, a conservative market and society we are restricting our level of innovation to what we can realistically achieve achieve in the formal sector -- its not to say what we are doing is better than anything else, but think of the OERu concept as our contribution from the formal sector to the rapidly evolving context of alternative learning for the 21st century. By Wayne Mackintosh - Friday, 9 September 2011, 04:42 PM Yves Simon wrote, Recognition of academic competence can be earned through reputed social networks. While we have been critical of the academy to be fair to the university as institution, we must remember that many confer the the degree of Doctorate honoris causa. This is a good example where universities actually recognize the contributions and scholarship of individuals and award the highest qualification without traditional prerequisite degree requirements. Recipients of an honorary doctorate may use the degree in the same way as a substantive degree (except in some cases where the formal academic background would be a necessary requirement.) The blessing in disguise is that no-one is forced to get a university of college degree. Furthermore, the university is one of only a few institutions which welcomes and respects critical discourse from is paid staff even when its leveled at the university itself. Not many institutions welcome this level of internal self-reflection. Bear in mind -- I do not work for a university and choose to work outside the sector but I believe that the University is an institution worth protecting for future societies.  Source: Scope Seminar http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=16606

The OER university perspective

According to this press release, "The President of Athabasca University has confirmed the University’s commitment to join the OER Foundation and support the OER Tertiary Education Network (OERTen) initiative as a founding anchor partner." This follows Empire State College (ESC) of the State University of New York (SUNY) joining last week. Moreover, there is currently a SCoPE seminar "discussing aspects of the OERu model." WikiEducator's OERu and P2PU have very similar models, whereby an OER initiative is tied to university credentialing and support. I'm not sure exactly what to make of the model. On the one hand, it's clearly a step forward in improving access to educational opportunities. On the other hand, it has the feel of a rearguard action to protect further erosion of the university sphere of influence, and is in this sense a bit regressive. But I'm in wait-and-see mode at the moment, and we'll see whether open educational resources translates in any meaningful way to open access.

Source: www.downes.ca/post/56143

Towards OER university: Free learning for all students worldwide

08-02-2011 (Apia)

The OER Foundation will host an open planning meeting on 23 February 2011 in Dunedin, New Zealand, for the project, Open Educational Resources (OER) for Assessment and Credit for Students. UNESCO will provide support for streaming the meeting on the Internet to enable virtual participation by education leaders and interested persons.

OER encapsulates a simple but powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good. The Internet provides unique opportunities for everyone to share, use, and reuse this knowledge.

The OER Foundation, Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand), the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) and Athabasca University (Canada) are collaborating in this project as founding anchor partners to provide flexible pathways for OER learners to earn formal academic credit and pay reduced fees for assessment and credit.

“We extend an open invitation to all post-secondary institutions that care about sharing knowledge as a core value of education to join us in planning these sustainable learning futures,” said Dr Robin Day, Chair of the Board of Directors of the OER Foundation.

Phil Ker, Chief Executive of Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand, highlights that “OER is the means by which education at all levels can be more accessible, more affordable and more efficient”.

WikiEducator, a flagship initiative of the OER Foundation, administers the Learning4Content project – the world's largest training project to provide free wiki-skills' courses for the collaborative development of OER to thousands of educators from 140 different countries. “The Learning4Content model demonstrates that OER is cost effective and infinitely scalable,” said Dr Wayne Mackintosh, Director of the OER Foundation and founder of WikiEducator.

The challenge is to find robust mechanisms for academic credit for these OER learners. “Students seek flexible study opportunities, but they also want their achievements recognised in credible credentials,” said Sir John Daniel, President of the Commonwealth of Learning. “This important meeting will tackle the challenges of combining flexibility with rigour, which requires clarity in conception and quality in execution.”

“The concept of free learning for all students is well aligned with UNESCO's global mission to provide education for all, which now seems imminently more doable with the mainstream adoption of OER in our formal education institutions,” said Dr Visesio Pongi, Director of the UNESCO Office in Apia.

 Related link
Meet Athabasca U Canada's first OER University