Prof. Rory Mcgreal1
1Athabasca University, Edmonton, Canada
This paper will explain the rationale for and the implementation of free first year university courses using open educational resources for elearning. The OERu is an international consortium of more than 30 higher education institutions that collaborate to ensure that learners anywhere in the world can gain academic credit towards qualification from recognized institutions using Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are learning materials that have been released under an open license, permitting their free use or re-purposing by others. Details will also be provided on the Trans-National Qualification Framework developed by the Commonwealth of Learning and how it is being applied at the OERu using micro-credentials. OERu courses are instructionally designed using internationally accepted curricula and designed for independent asynchronous study with facilities to encourage peer-support from fellow learners. The courses are taught online, so Internet access using a computer or mobile device is recommended, but not essential as the OER courses can be printed out or downloaded for work offline. Because all the resources are openly licensed, learners do not need to buy textbooks or other course material. In some OERu courses you will be studying with full-time registered students at one or more of the OERu partner academic institutions on five continents. The OERu courses are divided into Micro-Credits, which represent sub-components of full courses and are usually offered over a two to three week period. OERu partner institutes offer qualifications through the OERu network of the same academic standing as traditional courses offered on-campus.
Biography:
Prof. Rory McGreal is the UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning/International Council for Open and Distance Education Chair in Open Educational Resources (OER); and Director of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) at Athabasca University. He is also co-Editor of IRRODL (International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning). He is the founder of the OER Knowledge Cloud, a repository of research articles on OER. Previous positions include Assoc. VP Research, Executive Director of TeleEducation NB, a Canadian province-wide elearning network and Supervisor at Contact North/Contact Nord in Ontario. He is also the recipient of several national and international awards for open and distance learning.