OERu credit transfer and related services survey
OERu
Towards more affordable education for all students worldwide
Contents
Background information
The OERu is implementing a phased launch for the 1st Year of Study:
- Phase 1. One course: Learning in a Digital Age which focuses on the development of digital and learning literacies necessary for enhancing academic success in the 21st century.
- Phase 2. Three business courses: Introduction to Entrepreneurship; Principles of Management; and Introduction to Project Management.
We are adopting a "soft launch" approach. Pursuing realistic but conservative targets, OERu is aiming to build brand awareness and to collect data from the process evaluation to inform future decision-making.
Clarifying the OERu micro-course model
As an international network, the OERu must ensure transnational credit transfer. However, the course sizes that make up a year of study differ across international jurisdictions. The international standard for one year of full-time study is approximately 1200 notional learning hours. The difference in course sizes typically found in different regions is illustrated in the table below:
| Region / Country | Number of courses for 1 FTE year of study |
Learning hours per course |
Total learning hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 10 | 120 | 1200 |
| Australia | 8 | 160 | 1280 |
| United Kingdom | 6 | 200 | 1200 |
| New Zealand | 8 | 150 | 1200 |
To achieve a standard transfer “currency” the OERu has adopted a modular micro-course format. Each micro-course equates to 40 notional hours of learning effort. Therefore, in North America 3 micro-courses are typically required to make up a standard 3-credit course, whereas in Australia, 4 micro-courses must be completed to qualify for transcript credit for the relevant course.
The assessing OERu partner can decided to offer one assessment for the set of associated micro-courses, or alternatively provide an assessment for each micro-course. In the OERu model, learners must successfully complete 30 micro-courses for an equivalent full year of study.
The decision to implement micro-courses has enabled the OERu to partner with Edubits to offer micro-credentials for selected courses with pathways to formal academic credit.
Three way's to engage with the launch
OERu partners may:
- Recognise transcript credit issued by the assessing partner for one or more of the listed courses as transfer credit towards a local qualification(s); and/or
- Offer assessment services (for example a challenge examination or assessed assignments) for one or more of the listed courses (fee-for-service) for transcript credit; and/or
- Adopt one of the listed courses as a full-fee, full-service option offered locally to students on campus.
Instructions
- Kindly designate a representative from your institution to complete the short online survey before 30 September 2017
- We recommend that you review the respective course materials and course specification documents before completing with the online survey. Each course is a first-year bachelor-degree level. Links to the relevant published materials are provided below:
| Course | Assessing Institution |
Published micro-courses |
|---|---|---|
| Learning in a digital age (90%) Front matter and course announcements for LiDA103 and LiDA104 to be completed, but course materials can be reviewed. |
OP |
Digital literacies for online learning  |
| Introduction to entrepreneurship (Complete) |
TESU / OP |
Becoming an entrepreneur |
| Principles of management (Complete) |
TESU OP |
Introduction to management |
| Introduction to project management (Complete) |
OP |
Role of the project manager |
