Feedback on Version 3.0 of the elevator pitch
What is OERu? (Working draft 3 - Current Version)
OERu connects learners from around the world with an advanced, affordable, and accessible education through a network of innovative, international higher education partners. Through OERu, learners develop knowledge and earn globally recognized credentials.
I've incorporated most of the feedback from v2 into the current iteration, and look forward to your thoughts.
regarding the following points:
- Tertiary - while this will be common within academia, i think it will lead to confusion with prospective students.
- 'industry quality standards' - i think we cover this through the 'globally recognized credentials'
- Conduit - I love the word and concept, but will bow to the majority. :-)
- Free - I've steered clear of this due to the potential landmines mentioned in the initial draft
Thanks Jason,
We're getting close.
- I can see that the alliteration of "advanced", "affordable", and "accessible" could be useful for "adverts" - but "advanced" isn't a good fit imo.
- We've had feedback from two CEOs that reputable / credible needs to be in the mix. Although hard to fit in without a long string of adjectives. Could the following work:
- OERu connects learners from around the world with an affordable and accessible education through a credible network of innovative, international higher education partners. Through OERu, learners develop knowledge and earn globally recognized credentials.
We could substitute credible with reputable?
Yep i didn't like advanced either. Also "from around the world" is wordy - wondered about ditching in favour of "global" but then we have "globally" later. Do we need it I wonder? I don't think so. By the end of the 2nd sentence we have the "global" concept.
I was thinking replace "advanced" with the simpler idea of "the best". Added "online". Affirm the need for "reputable". Suggest "innovative" is unecessary. The idea is incredible. Let it speak for itself.
Suggested revision:
OERu connects learners with the best affordable, and accessible online education through a network of reputable, international higher education partners. Through OERu, learners develop knowledge and earn globally recognized credentials.
As we strive for word economy we are loosing what is distinctive about OERu - our openness.
Reading this elevator pitch and its suggested refinements, I struggle to see what is special about our innovation. The OERu is distinctively open - there is no education collaboration that comes remotely close to our openness.
I'm edging towards David Porters description - the current track is watering down what we are doing to nothing. Jason - I think you need to get back to the drawing board and generate something which compels me to want to join and participate in the OERu.
- OERu is open sourcing education - we are an international network of credible institutions widening access to globally recognized credentials at an affordable cost.
This is the heart and core of what we are doing the other wordsmithing is fluff imo. ;-)
Hi Sarah,
Appreciate your ongoing engagement and interest in helping us shape up an elevator pitch - why is this soooooo hard?
I'm weary of using superlative adjectives. Some organisation will come along and tell us that their full-fee online course with tutorial support is "better" than our "best" - although the research evidence suggests that lecturer-student support contributes less to learning outcomes than other forms of support ;-)
But you and I know that we are the "best" international network opening education.
Feedback from Clive Mulholland, Principal and Vice Chancellor of UHI
- "Apologies for my tardiness in response, busy week here. I think version 3 is much improved. Only suggestion from me would be to add quality in.
- 'Advanced, affordable and accessible high quality......'"
- "Apologies for my tardiness in response, busy week here. I think version 3 is much improved. Only suggestion from me would be to add quality in.
Agreed--quality or high quality should be added. "accessible" may not be necessary if the premise is that we provide access to education.
Contribution from Martin Oosthuizen, member of the EXCOM of the OERu Council of CEOs, and DVC Northwest University
I have had a go at formulating something more "inspiring". The last bit about articulation my not be stated properly, though I think that it captures the commitment of the partners to promote articulation.
- OERu is an international network of innovative higher education institutions inspired by the vision of opening access to a credible, high-quality and affordable education to learners across the world. Through OERu, learners develop knowledge and earn globally recognized credentials, that they can present for articulation into formal programmes at the partner institutions.
In response Clive Mulholland says:
- "Thanks for this Martin. I really like it. You could replace “articulation” with credit transfer perhaps?"
Feedback from Jim Taylor, OERF Board member and Emeritus Professor, USQ
Here are a few comments that could also be relevant to the work by Helen Baxter and her team on the forthcoming Partners Video Script and Animatic:
- OERu is an international innovation partnership of over 30 quality-accredited higher education institutions sharing expertise to provide currently excluded learners from around the world with affordable access to online higher education.
- By extending the philosophy of open access research to a selected range of online open access courses primarily at the first year level, OERu partner institutions (by offering just two courses each) are providing learners with the opportunity to gain academic credit towards globally recognized credentials without facing significant financial outlays. Student fees for these open access courses are based only on the cost-recovery of assessment services.
- The OERu open business model outlines the benefits of the collaborative use of open source technologies and Creative Commons licensing to enable learners to make an effective transition to higher education, thereby enabling institutions to meet social justice targets, enhance cost efficiency and build sustainability.
