OERu/Planning/MVP task force/Fourth meeting

• Dates
  1. Oceania and North America 16 October 2018, 11:00AM NZST (Click on link for local time.)
  2. Africa and Europe 16 October 2018, 9:00PM NZST (Click on link for local time.)
• Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/926685476

Aims

The aims of the meeting are to:

1. Review progress of the launch of the OERu 1st year of study
2. Note technology improvements to the MVP delivery platform
3. Consult on the OERu strategic plan
4. Discuss the agenda for the 7th International Meeting of OERu partners

Acceptances

• As of Monday 15 October 18:00 (NZDT)
• If you don't see your name, please add below in the wiki or email: wayne@oerfoundation.org

Oceania and North American group

1. Ishan Abeywardena, Adviser: Open Educational Resources, Commonwealth of Learning
   Canada
2. Bill Beach, Associate Director, Learning and Research, University of Queensland
   Australia
3. Christine Bovis-Cnossen, Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, Thompson Rivers University
   Canada
4. Alan Davis, President and Vice Chancellor, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
   Canada
5. Lesley Brook, Portfolio Assistant, Otago Polytechnic
   New Zealand
6. Ryan Brunton, Educational Technologist, University of Tasmania,
   Australia
7. Mary Burgess, Executive Director, BCcampus,
   Canada
8. Rajiv Jhangiani, Special Advisor to the Provost on Open Education, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
   Canada
9. Amanda Larson, Open Education Librarian, Penn State University
   USA
10. Dave Lane, Open Source Technologist, OER Foundation
    New Zealand
11. Michael Looney, Program Director, Arts, Open Learning, Thompson Rivers University
    Canada
12. Wayne Mackintosh, Director and UNESCO-ICDE Chair in OER, OER Foundation
    New Zealand
13. Oonagh McGirr, Deputy CEO, Learning and Teaching Services, Otago Polytechnic
    New Zealand
14. Valerie Peachey, Co-Director u!magine, Division Learning and Teaching, Charles Sturt University
    Australia
15. Rachel Phegan, Team Leader, Curriculum Innovation and Quality, University of Tasmania
    Australia
16. David Porter, Chief Executive Officer, eCampusOntario
    Canada
17. Nerida Quatermass, University Copyright Officer, Project Manager Creative Commons Australia, Queensland University of Technology
    Australia
18. Adrian Stagg, Manager (Open Educational Practice), University of Southern Queensland
    Australia
19. Theresa Steger, Director, Digital Curriculum, Humber College
    Canada
20. Marc Singer, Vice Provost, Thomas Edison State University
    USA
21. Jim Taylor, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern Queensland
    Australia
22. Chris Walsh, Academic Director, Victoria University (VU) Online,
    Australia
23. Sandra Wills, member of the OERF Board of Directors, Australia,
    Australia
24. Leonora Zefi, Manager, eLearning Initiatives and Course Development, Ryerson University
    Canada

Africa and Europe group

1. Andy Brown, Head of Academic Development, University of the Highlands and Islands
   United Kingdom
2. Gary Campbell, Key Account Director, University of the Highlands and Islands
   United Kingdom
3. Carol Cooper-Taylor, OERF Consultant, United Kingdom
   United Kingdom
4. Serine El Solhat, Vice-Chancellor for International Cooperation, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University
   United Arab Emirates
5. Dave Lane, Open Source Technologist, OER Foundation
   New Zealand
6. Rassie Louw, Manager Digital Teaching and Learning Environment, North-West University
   South Africa
7. Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and OER, North-West University
   South Africa
8. Wayne Mackintosh, Director and UNESCO-ICDE Chair in OER, OER Foundation
   New Zealand
9. Philip Uys, Director Learning Technologies, Charles Sturt University
   Australia
10. Herman van der Merwe, Dean, North-West University
    South Africa
11. Paul West, CEO & Senior Education Specialist, West & Associates
    South Africa
12. Sule OHUH, Acting Head, OER Unit, National Open University of Nigeria
    Nigeria

Agenda

(Please add any agenda items for the MVP meeting below - Note that meeting will be recorded)

1. Welcome
   • Purpose of the meeting
   • Otago Polytechnic boosts staff capacity for OERu
   • Acknowledge participants in attendance
2. Overview of the OERu component-based delivery platform
   • Course site exemplar: Learning in a digital age (LiDA101)
   • OERu technology wheel
   • OERu perpetual academic year: 3 cohort offerings plus independent study option for each micro-course
   • Landing page exemplars:
     1. Course landing page with associated micro-courses: Introduction to project management
     2. Micro-course expression of interest: Roles of the project manager
     3. Learner preferences landing page: Role of the project manager - learner preferences.
3. Launch of the OERu 1st year of study - The devil is in the detail
   • Developed and published Learner support site
   • Decision to self-host Mautic (unaffordable SaaS pricing model for OERu). Currently 12,898 contacts. Since the launch of LiDA101 in March 2018, 19,568 course and related communication emails have been sent via Mautic
   • European General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR became enforceable on 25 May 2018.
     1. OERu Privacy Policy
     2. Privacy notice
   • OERu credit transfer and course articulation agreements
   • Key statistics associated with the launch of Learning in a digital age:
     1. 703 registered (and 659 unregistered as shown by web analytics) participants from 60 different countries
     2. The top thirteen countries according to the number of registrations were: India, United States, Canada, Fiji, Nigeria, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Uganda, Australia, Egypt and Kenya
     3. Site analytics recorded 1,362 users visiting the course websites during the active cohort period, indicating that 48% of visitors chose not to register for course announcements
     4. The course sites generated 19,839 page views, with 9,083 being unique for the active cohort periods
     5. Learners ranged in age from 25 to 60, with one in five respondents falling in the 46 - 52 age group
     6. 50% of the learners nominated English as their primary language
     7. Respondents, who chose to identify their gender identity, demonstrated that 64% were female
     8. The majority of respondents (66%) were in full-time paid employment. Professional development (50%), followed by re-skilling for a new career (17%), and personal development (17%) were cited as the main motivations for taking an OERu course
     9. Approximately one in three respondents confirmed that they were planning to acquire a micro-credential, and an equal number indicated they were thinking about completing a micro-credential
4. Technology projects:
   • Blog feed finder
   • Improving the course registration process
5. Consultation: OERu strategic plan
   • OERu Strategic Plan 2018 - 2020
   • Kanboard for the OERu Strategic Plan
6. Consultation: Agenda for the 2018 Partners Meeting

Proposal for the agenda for the 2018 Partners Meeting

(Please add ideas for the agenda for the 7th International Meeting of OERu partners below)

Day 1: OERu past and present

1. Setting the scene (Aims, principles of engagement, and OERu milestones)
2. Review, reflection, and setting meeting priorities:
   • Year in review:
     1. Soft launch of the 1st year of study
     2. Demonstration of the MVP delivery platform (LiDA)
     3. OERu open technology infrastructure (focussing on new developments)
   • Critical friend review and setting meeting priorities.
3. Improving OERu operations (possible breakout groups):
   • OERu Digital Marketing
   • Establishing Technology Priorities
   • OERu Quality Initiatives - 1st of three breakout sessions.
   • Improving Institutional Engagement with OERu
4. Propose conveners of the three new working groups (and determine responsibilities)

Day 2: OERu strategic futures

1. Proposals for action for OERu innovation pilots:
   • Community learning hubs for digital literacies in post-secondary education
   • OERu online proctoring trial
   • Increasing return on investment in OERu (eg Adopt an OERu micro-course, Implement an OERu open source solution, others?)
   • OERu quality initiative - 2nd of three breakout sessions.
2. Open webinar panel: Opening doors to higher education isn’t enough: The deeper challenges of OER
3. Strategic planning (possible breakout groups):
   • Calibrating KPIs for 2019
   • OERu partner recruitment (Review OERu open business model canvas plus template letter of invitation)
   • Proposal for action - Implementing the Process Evaluation
   • Preparing the agenda for the CEO's meeting
   • OERu Quality Initiatives - 3rd and final breakout session
4. Conclusion and the way forward

Summary of the meetings

Key points

• Participants commended progress with the OERu technology platform and successful launch of Learning in a Digital Age.
• OERu Strategic goals for 2018 to 2021 were confirmed. Plan will be circulated wider for additional comments from OERu partners who were unable to attend the meetings. The strategic plan will be tabled at the 7th International Meeting of OERu partners for final approval.
• Participants endorsed the structure and content for the agenda of the partner's meeting with the inclusion additional breakout topics.

2018 OERu consultation meeting (North America and Oceania)

1. Welcomed attendees and acknowledged Otago Polytechnic's additional contribution to fund the equivalent of one full-time staff member to assist with preparing the business courses for the launch of the OERu 1st year of study.
2. Provided an overview of the OERu delivery platform:
   • Demonstrated the OERu open source, component-based delivery platform including an overview of the "OERu technology wheel" and the aggregated course feed which fetches posts for the aggregated course feed.
   • Explained how the OERu is using marketing automation software (Mautic) to scale course communications for a "perpetual" academic year comprising four offerings of each micro-course in the first year of study.
   • Illustrated improved landing pages for micro-course listings (see for example Introduction to Project Management) and lead capture pages for individual micro-courses (see for example Planning a project).
   • Discussed the OERu's onboarding process for new learners and associated orientation email campaign.
   • Noted the need to strike the right balance between "aggressive" marketing and effective recruitment to serve learners who would benefit most from the OERu free courses.
   • Confirmed that OERu partner institutions would have access to analytics and data trends for OERu courses.
3. Reported on the launch of the OERu 1st year of study:
   • Summarized projects requiring completion before the launch of our first course:
     1. Development of the student support website
     2. Establishing an OERF hosted instance of the Mautic marketing automation software resulting in significant savings when compared to the commercial SaaS hosted solution.
     3. Revising the OERu Privacy Policy and Privacy notice to ensure that the OERu is managing personal information in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation which became enforceable on 25 May 2018.
   • Summarised statistics and survey data derived from the inaugural offering of the four micro-courses for Learning in a Digital Age.
     1. Confirmed total number of OERu learners being 861 from 87 different countries as on 16 October and noted high cluster countries attracting the most learners.
     2. Noted the example from Kerala, India where Sebastian Panakal facilitated face-to-face sessions of the LiDA101 course for woman.
        

        2018 OERu consultation meeting (Africa, Europe and Middle East)

        
4. Demonstrated new software developed by the OERF to resolve challenges identified during the launch of the OERu's first course:
   • Developed a "Blog feed finder" which simplifies the process for a learner not familiar with feeds in registering their personal blogs for periodic automated scanning and inclusion in the course WEnotes feed.
   • Improvements in the course registration process on the course site.
5. Reviewed the OERu strategic plan, targets, and supporting Kanboard.
   • Participants affirmed the broad goals of the plan and associated initiatives to achieve the strategic objectives noting that impressive progress has been made with the implementation of the OERu.
6. Reviewed the proposed agenda for the OERu 2018 partner's meeting.
   • Noted the importance to include the statistics and demographics generated from the first courses of the OERu 1st year of study.
   • Participants recommended the following additions to be incorporated into the agenda:
     1. Alternate credentialling in a "post credit transfer" era.
     2. Open boundary courses as a potential innovation pilot.
     3. Open pedagogy approaches to enhance sustainability of OERu courseware.
7. North America - Oceania meeting adjourned at 12:38 (NZDT)
8. Africa, Europe and Middle East meeting adjourned at 22:40 (NZDT)

Chat transcripts

• Chat transcript (North America - Oceania) (pdf)
• Chat transcript (North America - Oceania) (pdf) - Minimal chat conversation

Resource links shared via the chat channel

• eCampusOntario Market research report
• Alan Levine's comparison of the OERu's blog feed finder and alternatives used previously.
• Technical recipe for self-hosting Mautic
• Ontario Extend professional development initiative.