User:Idevries/presentation

= TRU Senate Presentation =

What it is/what it isn't

 * Sponsored by the OER Foundation
 * Collaboration of like-minded institutions
 * Not a university in the institutional sense
 * Virtual presence in WikiEducator wiki

Goals

 * Low-cost learning to all students worldwide using OER learning material
 * Courses and programs based solely on OER
 * Pathways to earn credible post-secondary credentials
 * Models of scalable and low cost learner support
 * Opportunities for new business models providing value added services in a disaggregated model

Founding anchor partner
TRU has been a member from the very start = Founding Anchor Partner

Others who have joined later are Anchor Partners

Implications

 * Contribution of two courses


 * 1) ART 100 Art Appreciation (from Saylor.com)
 * 2) To be determined (possibly Sustainability)


 * Ensuring course quality


 * 1) For courses contributed by TRU: Faculty review, standard course approvals
 * 2) For other courses: based on OERu quality processes and granting institutions' alternative credit policies
 * 3) OERu principle is to respect all participant institutions' own standards and processes


 * Determining how to give credit for courses


 * 1) Still under discussion by joint committee
 * 2) Options include commercial exams, PLAR (portfolio, assignments, exams, etc.), transfer credit

Benefits
International collaboration


 * Next annual meeting at TRU this Fall - partners from around the world to attend - Sir John Daniel will attend and speak

Access to courses developed by others in OERU

Tremendous learning experience for participants


 * Gets us working hands-on with OER and open educational practices

Advances our Academic Plan

E.g.:


 * Increased faculty engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning
 * Additional domestic and international degree options, such as dual-, joint-, and Masters degrees, with partner institutions
 * International “virtual or distance” projects and collaborations at the research, operational, and assessment stages, including distance study with other Open and Distance universities and other institutions offering multi-modal learning
 * Enhanced local, national and international partnerships, including programs created with external partners in Aboriginal communities, industry, government, and NGOs


 * Flexible instructional environments, including blended/hybrid delivery models, supported distance learning, service learning, field trips
 * TRU continued development of the use/acceptance of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition
 * The application of principles of universal instructional design