Looking for support from the open education community for Australia needs a new model of higher education built around equity | Pearls and Irritations
Hello! Library technician from Canada!
We recently have been asked by our local government to help guide them on the idea of how to better support OE. (Spoilers: They will choose dumping funds on universities, and it will go badly).
We did a quick environmental scan of our province and some big successes and prize winners for OE Global recognition, and the biggest thing I found to be successful on transforming and decentralizing OER was two states - Massachusetts and Colorado.
They both, to different degrees, got the state to enshrine the creation of OER in law. This pushed for regular funding from governments and academia, and needing to give dedicated time for instructors to generate OER as part of their careers.
I think something like that would be incredibly to see performed on larger scales, and help kickstart OER creation, as well as push more areas to collaborate on how to store and retain what they generate.
Hello and extra warm welcomes for library folks as well as a neighbour, hope you return (I happen to do my OEGlobal work from Saskatchewan).
Not from anything beyond reading tea leaves (actually I do not have tea levels, were does that expression come from) the days of strong government support seem waning (as we can see over in Manitoba). The three institutions here in Saskatchewan have had surprisingly good support to enable SaskOER to be in place. I’d guess it is the universities in Alberta banding for your Open Education Alberta platform?
I’ve always wondered and whispered to colleagues at USask and U of Regina is it possible to build some loose community networking for central Canada or maybe the Priaire Provinces given that there is not likely to be the entities like BCampus and eCampusOntario.
It just seems there are plenty of people doing important work yet we are barely connected. I have no idea or plan, I just keep suggesting.
And hey! Get some attention for University of Alberta, make sure you are represented in the current open round of the Open Education Awards.