OERF:FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program Agreement

=FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program Agreement=

Section 1: Background
The Open Education Resource (OER) Foundation evolved from the original WikiEducator project and was established as an independent non-profit organisation to expand collaborative open education activities, and to achieve greater scalability and sustainability in the international arena.

Incorporated in April 2009, the OER Foundation provides leadership, networking and support for educators and educational institutions around the world to achieve their objectives through open education. The OER Foundation raises and administers funds for the purpose of supporting the adoption and implementation of OER for the benefit of education institutions and the learner communities served through open education. WikiEducator is a flagship initiative of the OER Foundation, and its policy statement requires the Foundation to maintain the technical and operational infrastructure of the WikiEducator community in accordance with the policies approved by the WikiEducator Community Council. The use of the term "partner" or "partners" in this agreement does not create a legal partnership between the OER Foundation and any or all of its members.

The OER Foundation has a strong commitment and proven track record in "bridging the digital divide" and supporting learning for development. The FTE4WikiEducator Partners Programme is designed to assist institutions in the "developing world" to maximise opportunities for achieving their objectives through implementing OER. By making a small donation of staff time for local institution-based OER projects, the OER Foundation will attempt to raise sponsorships from corporate citizenship and other sources to fund further capability development and professional OER consulting services for FTW4WikiEducator partners in the developing world.

Section 2: Objectives
The FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program is an open philanthropy initiative of OER Foundation which aims to provide value added services to assist deserving institutions in the developing world to achieve their objectives through open education approaches. This is enabled through the generosity of corporate and institutional sponsorships. Through corporate citizenship and other institutional sponsorships, the OER Foundation is able to cover the costs associated with the provision of specialised OER consulting services and capability development. The OER Foundation has extensive networks in the developing world, and strives to source consulting services from the region in which FTE4WikiEducator Partners are located.

Specifically the FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program aims to:


 * To foster "South-South", "South-North" and and "North-South" OER partnerships around the world. (OER permits derivative works and in this way mitigates against the risks associated with neo-colonialism)
 * Build local OER capability for education institutions in the developing world to reduce the cost of educational provision while widening access to and improving the quality learning using open education approaches.

Section 3: Qualifying institutions
The FTE4WikiEducator Partners Programme is designed to assist educational institutions in the developing world, who may not have the financial resources to join the OER Foundation as a Bronze, Silver or Gold contributing members. Organisations need to meet the following requirements to qualify as an approved FTE4WikiEducator Partner:


 * The institution must be formally registered as an approved education provider or registered non-profit working in the education sector
 * Located and primarily operating in one of the emerging and developing economies as listed in the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Report, October 2009.
 * An authorised senior manager of the institution must confirm that the institution cannot reasonably afford paid membership of the OER Foundation.
 * The institution must assign a 0.2 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff member(s) to work and facilitate institutional-based OER activities on WikiEducator.

The OER Foundation will seek sponsorship from platinum members, corporate citizenship and the international donor community to assist in covering the costs of capability development and OER membership services.

Section 4: The OER Foundation Commitment
The OER Foundation will:


 * Assist FTW4WikiEducator Partners in setting up an institutional portal page on the WikiEducator website to profile and coordinate OER activities of the institution.
 * Profile FTW4WikiEducator Partner in the contributing members area of the OER Foundation website.
 * Provide access to an international network of OER practitioners around the world through registration on the OER Foundation's discussion forums for contributing members.
 * Provide preferential placements on the OER Foundation's professional development workshops run under the Learning4Content training initiative.
 * Provide voting rights on determining OER content development priorities with regard to commissioned OER development projects funded from time-to-time by the OER Foundation.
 * On securing sponsorship, provide OER consulting and support services equivalent to those specified under the gold membership level of contributing members.

Section 5: FTE4WikiEducator Partner Commitment
FTE4WikiEducator Partners will:


 * Assign a 0.2 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff member(s) to work and facilitate institutional-based OER activities on WikiEducator.
 * Supply the contact details of institutional OER conveners to communicate with the OER Foundation staff and the WikiEducator community
 * Participate in the WikiEducator community in accordance with the values of the WikiEducator project
 * Promote and advertise the OER Foundation's free training workshops among staff at the institution.
 * Actively participate in determining OER content development priorities.

Section 6: Designated Contacts

 * Authorised Executive Manager is the person with the authority to sign the FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program Agreement.
 * OER convener(s) are the designated staff member(s) assigned to work 0.2 FTE on the FTE4WikiEducator Partners' OER projects and may be staff developers, learning designers, academic teaching staff, or IT professionals.

=Program Agreement=

This agreement is made on the Day of ,

Between the following parties

 * 1) The Open Education Resource Foundation Limited (“OERF”); a charitable body incorporated under the New Zealand Companies Act of 1993.
 * 2) 

Background
The FTE4WikiEducator Partners Program (hereinafter called the "Program") has been established by the OER Foundation to assist deserving education institutions in the developing world to achieve their objectives using open education approaches.