Thread:Consultation questions (5)

Hello all--I do second all of Brian's comments. These are all (identity verification, ease of articulation and transfer, the idea of a General Studies program) issues that we are thinking about here at Thomas Edison State College. We are using an online proctoring service for our assessments now, and it seems to work well, but the cost (about $20 US dollars per administration) might be prohibitive to some. Still an issue for us to consider--identity verification would help address transferability via increased accountability.

I do not mean to harp on this, and I mean no offense to anyone (my own housekeeping skills are less than optimal) but improved communication amongst our members is a key goal that I think we should focus on. And in particular, this wikieducator site is nearly impenetrable for me and my staff, and this impenetrability has been, without exaggeration, the single biggest issue concerning my institution's involvement in OERu. We are unable to understand what other institutions are doing, it is not easy for me to find the courses that have already been developed, nor to determine what stage of development they are in, and the difficulty of navigation has made our own accountability a serious question--in other words, I don't know when I am supposed to do something or what that something actually is. I cannot use the website to gain buy-in on the part of my colleagues here at the College. Of course, cleaning up our website is not a strategic goal of the magnitude of the four we are considering, but improved communication and transparency is certainly something I would add.

Finally, I would suggest that we consider less emphasis here on the question of cost, which is addressed in three of the four strategic goals. While of course money makes the world go round, I would suggest retitling numbers 2 and 4: in number 2, replace "cost effective" with "efficient" at minimum, and in number 4, "Develop pilots/models to demonstrate viability and strength of OERu network" or something like that.