What, Who, Why of OCW (and how Libraries can lead)

Editor's Notes

1. We hope you’ll join us – thank you – flip through the next three slides rather quickly
2. A little more detail on what we mean by “Sharing is good”.
3. Sharing facilitates improvements in teaching and learning Unlike physical objects, Knowledge does not get depleted when you share it. You can share knowledge and still have knowledge. And you’ll likely increase your knowledge by sharing it, because the person you share it with might provide additional information, or ask you questions you hadn’t previously explored.
4. OpenCourseWare is part of Open Educational Resources, but while OER can be a single object, OpenCourseWare is a package of course materials, such as syllabi, tests, lecture notes, videos of lectures, recordings, reading lists, etc.
5. There are many universities who are creating and using open educational resources that are not members of the Consortium, so the movement is bigger and broader than just our membership numbers and course counts represent
6. Washington State community and technical colleges policy document, passed June 2010
7. high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, the National Knowledge Commission has been given a mandate to guide policy and direct reforms, focusing on certain key areas such as education, science and technology, agriculture, industry, e-governance etc. Easy access to knowledge, creation and preservation of knowledge systems, dissemination of knowledge and better knowledge services are core concerns of the commission.
8. Through networking at both grassroots and policy levels, Brazilian OER advocates generated enough interest to hold a congressional hearing on OER in July 2010 to consider it as a national education strategy
9. Results from surveys of OCW users. About 50% of users report themselves as students or faculty; the other 50% are self-learners and working professionals. This has interesting implications for life long learning.
10. From the same survey, how materials are being used. Nearly same rates reported for “to help me understand concepts I’m studying” and “to update skills for work”.
11. Walter Lewin made videos of his lectures available as OpenCourseWare. He says that around 3,000 people per day watch his lectures. Prof. Lewin recently made these remarks at the OCW Consortium global conference in May 2011.
12. Some institutions that are using OCW and OERs to broaden access and offer alternatives to the current educational systems.
13. Since librarians have the skills, expertise and commitment to lead open education, perhaps all that’s missing is support.
14. We hope you’ll join us – thank you – flip through the next three slides rather quickly