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November 12, 2014

Open education lowers barriers to formal study

Advocates of open education convened on 10 November to discuss the future of the Open Education Resource ¾«¶«´«Ã½ (OERu) at a meeting hosted by ¾«¶«´«Ã½ of ¾«¶«´«Ã½ (UOW) Deputy-Vice Chancellor (Education) Professor Eeva Leinonen.

The meeting was the culmination of a sequence of symposia and meetings over four days and was attended by international representatives of the OERu network, which includes universities, polytechnics and other educational institutions from five continents. The OERu network is an international consortium of quality education providers aiming to make education accessible to students worldwide, During the meeting, new partners to the network, including the Open ¾«¶«´«Ã½ in the UK and Australia’s Curtin ¾«¶«´«Ã½, were welcomed by Professor Leinonen.

Coordinated by the OER Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organisation, the OERu network of institutions offers free online courses for students worldwide. The OERu partners also provide affordable ways for learners to gain academic credit towards qualifications from recognised institutions.

The meeting, which was held at UOW’s Sydney Business School in Circular Quay, was attended by the two UNESCO chairs of Open-education worldwide: Professor Wayne Mackintosh from Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand, and Professor Rory McGreal from Athabasca ¾«¶«´«Ã½ in Canada.

Professor Leinonen said open education is focused on broadening participation and lowering barriers to entry to formal study, particularly students from rural, remote or low socioeconomic backgrounds.

“There are 94 million students worldwide without access to university education. Some of these are in regional and remote Australia and this certainly intersects with the mission of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ of ¾«¶«´«Ã½”, said Professor Leinonen.

“In practical terms, open-education helps to lower the cost for students, not only for actual courses but also for resources such as free online text books,” she added.

Currently, a small number of courses are offered via the OERu website; participating institutions are working hard to develop a further 20 courses over the next six months. The development and refinement of a strategic plan for the future was a priority at the meeting. In 2015, the network intends to offer students a suite of free online courses.

“These free online courses would act as a pathway of study toward a Bachelor’s degree. Students will only pay a small fee for the assessment associated with that course if and when they decide they want to get formal credit from a university for their work,” Sarah Lambert, UOW Open Education manager, said.

UOW, in partnership with OERu, is currently developing a fully open and online Graduate Certificate in Global Citizenship. While a course in its own right, the certificate will also serve as a pathway course shaving one semester of full time study from the UOW Master of International Studies.

The graduate certificate will include a core Research Methods course and will be utilised by a range of ¾«¶«´«Ã½ campus students, as it is a pre-requisite for study in a number of research-based courses.

“We are excited to be offering more flexible pathways into formal study and to be expanding our fully online offerings in this way,” Ms Lambert said.

“The parallel study of online, international students with local campus cohorts is another exciting benefit from the OERu model of delivery – it provides an internationalised learning experience for both the online and on campus students.”

Contact Sarah Lambert, UOW Open Education manager, for more information on slambert@uow.edu.au