OERu/OERu 15.10 Meeting/Report

Low cost, high impact. #OERu building global open education network, with annual budget about half cost of a single xMOOC course. #icdeunisa

The 4th meeting of OERu partners was hosted by North-West University on 7 and 8 October 2015 in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.

''Participants reflected on progress of the OERu's 2015 operational priorities and commenced work on re-calibrating the 2016 key performance indicators of the OERu Strategic Plan 2015-2017 for tabling at the 3rd meeting of the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers. Key outputs of the meeting included the decision to develop minimum viable product for the implementation of a free OERu 1st year of study leading to an exit credential during 2016 and the milestone approval of the OERu Credit Transfer and Course Accumulation Guidelines.''

=Summary of outputs and key decisions=

The summary of outputs and key decisions should be read in conjunction with the detailed sections which follow.


 * 1) Key priorities derived from the critical friend review which directed meeting discussions:
 * 2) Implement (as early as possible in 2016) Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for the free OERu 1st year of study leading to an exit award.
 * 3) Improve marketing and communications to raise global awareness, to recruit prospective learners, and to promote the OERu concept to decision-makers.
 * 4) Support continuous improvement of OERu operations, including capacity development in the deployment of open source technologies, and the planning and implementation of open practice.
 * 5) Proposed refinements and action items relating to the OERu Institutional Action Plan (IAP) process:
 * 6) Adapt the IAP form to include all the metadata for completing the course nomination information in the wiki to avoid the need for follow up requests. (The original 2015 form did not include all relevant metadata for course nominations in the IAP.)
 * 7) Improve the format so that the IAP becomes a "living action plan" with defined outputs and who is responsible for those outputs, recognising that the OERu IAPs are dynamic and should be updated as new information comes to hand.
 * 8) Incorporate options in the IAP for active collaboration on development among partners and possible joint delivery of OERu courses.
 * 9) Improve the briefing process to support the IAP call taking institutional readiness into account as partners are at different phases of the OER journey. This process should help new partners gain a better understanding of what OERu membership means, and how they can best contribute to OERu initiatives.
 * 10) Design a process to promote the call for the IAP to be made via the executive.
 * 11) Distribute a succinct OERu progress report (1-page) biannually to Chief Executive Officers of partner institutions, with this task being assigned to Strategic Planning working group.
 * 12) Proposals for action to improve OERu course nominations:
 * 13) Progress a focused Expression of Interest (EOI) for partners to collaborate on nominating and/or developing courses needed for a program of study (possibly with funding support).
 * 14) Appoint a course or programme director(s) to drive the development of a number of coherent programs of study taking market needs into account. Each programme director should join and work closely with the Curriculum and Programme of Study working group.
 * 15) Establish a category of institutions that are willing to credential existing OER-based courses offered by non-OERu partners.
 * 16) Proposals for action to promote effective open collaboration:
 * 17) Introduce and encourage options for collaboration at the point of course nominations.
 * 18) Target pro-active collaboration through demonstrator projects under Strategic Goal 4 of the OERu Strategic Plan.
 * 19) Continue to enhance communication and collaboration platforms and utilise local champions to encourage users of these platforms in their own OERu contexts (proposed by the virtual group).
 * 20) Implement informal online networking, for example regular online "office hours" in building trust and developing communities of practice aligned with OERu operations (proposed by the virtual group).
 * 21) Proposals for action to improve marketing and communications:
 * 22) Activate the Marketing and Communications working group to progress the implementation of the OERu marketing plan.
 * 23) Direct the capability development grant from Hewlett to support marketing and communications, and to prioritise the development of actual marketing artefacts rather than consultation on proposing marketing plans.
 * 24) Action items arising from the analysis of the OERu open business models:
 * 25) Engage significantly more learners during the implementation phase of assembling MVP to test out and refine the OERu open business models.
 * 26) Refine marketing and channels of communication to attract and engage learner participation.
 * 27) Increase the number of OERu courses which are developed as "dual purpose" offerings, where courses are assembled to serve the needs of existing mainstream students as well as OERu learners.
 * 28) Distribute a succinct summary of the OERu open business models (including various business model canvases) to executive management of the OERu partner institutions for reuse and remix in developing their own business models.
 * 29) Implement a free 1st year of study as MVP for the OERu
 * 30) Partners agreed that the OERu will implement a tuition-free 1st year of study leading to an exit award at one or more partners during 2016
 * 31) Proposed process to identify award and corresponding course nominations:
 * 32) Survey which OERu partners can offer an exit award for the 1st year of study. The Certificate in Higher Education was nominated by the University of the Highlands and Islands.
 * 33) Research the requirements for the identified awards to ensure that the OERu model meets the specified requirements.
 * 34) Review how existing OERu 1st year courses fit the selected awards and call for nominations to fill identified gaps.
 * 35) Partners agreed to use WikiEducator as the primary authoring environment for MVP, and courses will be hosted on a common platform provided by the OERF using the new OERu theme.
 * 36) Unanimous approval of  OERu Guidelines for credit transfer
 * 37) Proposal to change the name to "Credit transfer and credit accumulation guidelines" by Martin Oosthuizen was approved.
 * 38) Implementation documents, including handbooks and procedures will be developed openly as "living" documents for future approval.
 * 39) Commenced work on calibrating KPIs of the OERu evergreen strategic plan for 2016:
 * 40) * Strategic Goal 1: Develop a coherent OERu programme of study with defined learning pathways and exit credentials
 * 41) *# Complete ten courses required for MVP for the 1st year of study by April 2016
 * 42) *# Complete an additional five 1st-year level courses by December 2016 to facilitate wider learner choice.
 * 43) *# Identify three programme directors to collaborate with the Curriculum and Programme of Study working group to develop a project plan for implementing three streams of study designed to enhance employability of prospective OERu learners.
 * 44) * Strategic Goal 2: Improve processes for efficient OERu operations that underpin academic quality at scale.
 * 45) *# Improve human-level sport for new OERu members in addition to support materials and courses (noting that mentors need support, resources and training).
 * 46) *# Establish a section on the main oeru.org site for new partners providing accessible pathways to core documents and resources to support new partners.
 * 47) *# Explore solutions for in-person, on-site visits from regional partners to help mentor new members.
 * 48) *# Ensure that all active OERu partners maintain their institutional profiles and scheduled course offerings on the public facing OERu.org site.
 * 49) *# Have technical contribution from at least 20% of the partners, either in infrastructure provision or software development.
 * 50) *Strategic Goal 3: Achieve a fiscally sustainable and scalable OERu network
 * 51) *# Prioritise the successful completion of a showcase (flagship) delivery of a large enrolment open course and 1 full programme leading to an exit award.
 * 52) *# Incorporate a sustainable development stream in the OERu programme of study to focus on real world problems, for example water conservation / quality, Food security, sustainable practices etc.
 * 53) *# Diversify funding sources (for example targeting corporate citizenship to sponsor OERu courses and widening donor funding sources.)
 * 54) *# Recruit and additional 15 partners by the end of 2016.
 * 55) Announced that the 2016 meetings of the OERu partners and Council of Chief Executive Officers will be hosted by the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness, Scotland tentatively scheduled for 2 - 4 November 2016.

=Day 1: OERu past and present=

Session 1: Setting the scene
Sub-saharan Africa needs to get from 8% to 40% participation in HE #oeru can help!

Prof Martin Oosthuizen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Teaching and Learning at North-West University welcomed participants to the first OERu partner's meeting to be hosted in Africa. Martin stressed the significant potential of the OERu international partnership to assist the continent in widening access to affordable education opportunitise underscoring the magnitude of the challenge to increase the gross enrolment ratio for participation in Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa from 8% to 40%.

Wayne Mackintosh, representing the Board of Directors of the OER Foundation, summarised the aims of the meeting:
 * Review progress with the implementation of the OERu
 * Plan operational priorities for 2016
 * Re-calibrate key performance indicators for input into the OERu "evergreen" Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017
 * Identify and plan strategic projects for 2016 and beyond.

Wayne provided a brief historical overview of the OERu noting the network's commitment to open planning and maintaining a public and transparent record of planning activities. Summary of key decisions of the OERu network:


 * 1) February 2011 open meeting hosted in New Zealand where: the OERu concept was proposed and agreement achieved for a logic model and framework for guiding the planning of the OERu implementation.
 * 2) November 2011 meeting of founding anchor partners, hosted in New Zealand which agreed: to progress OERu prototype courses; the Bachelor of General Studies as the inaugural credential; and to adopt the Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) evaluation model to guide design and implementation decisions.
 * 3) October 2013 meeting of founding anchor partners, hosted in Canada, which: officiated the "soft-launch" of the OERu by Sir John Daniel; discussed broad parameters to inform the development of a strategic plan for the OERu; and established a working group organisational structure to progress the implementation of the OERu.
 * 4) November 2013 inaugural meeting of the Council of Chief Executive Officers, hosted in Canada, which: Approved the terms of reference of the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers and tasked the network to conduct a consultative development of the OERu strategic plan.
 * 5) November 2014 meeting of partners, hosted in Australia. Key decisions: Endorsement of: the "evergreen" OERu Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017; approval of the OERu Institutional Action Plan model, where partners indicate how they plan to allocate their 0.2FTE allocation; and further refinements to the working group organisational structure.
 * 6) November 2014 meeting of the Council of Chief Executive Officers, hosted in Australia. Key decisions: Approval of the OERu Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017; endorsement of the implementation of matched-funding projects between the OER Foundation and OERu partners subject to surplus funds and or funding support from donors.

Session 2: Taking stock, critical friend review and meeting priorities

 * 1) OERu analogy for the day is the slow burn but needs fuel and stoking.

Reports from the OERu Management Committee
Conveners of the active working groups of the OERu Management Committee tabled their reports for the 2015:


 * 1) Strategic planning, Wayne Mackintosh for Jim Taylor, University of Southern Queensland.
 * 2) Partner engagement, Irwin DeVries, Thompson Rivers University
 * 3) Course approval and quality, Sarah Lambert, University of Wollongong
 * 4) Technology, Brian Lamb, Thompson Rivers University
 * 5) Standing Committee for Credit Transfer, Marc Singer, Thomas Edison State College
 * 6) Curriculum and programme of study, Wayne Mackintosh for David Bull, University of Southern Queensland.

Summary of 2015 outputs

 * The OERu has made good progress on the technology front, implementing solutions for publishing reusable course sites, and providing learners with a responsive design for course materials. We have also implemented new communication technologies to support the community (see community.oeru.org), and discussions among working group teams ( see groups.oeru.org ). Further, technical capacity has been doubled by the new open source position at the OERF jointly funded by our platinum tier partners: Kwantlen Polytechnic University, OER Foundation, Otago Polytechnic, University of Highlands and Islands, and University of Southern Queensland.
 * The implementation of institutional action plans recommended during the 2014 meetings has increased participation in the working groups with 70 seats now occupied by representatives from partner institutions. The OERu working group organisational structure is functioning well. Respective conveners have scheduled regular meetings, and the Management Committee has been coordinating the activities of these distributed groups supported by the new communication tools.
 * While the number of course nominations has increased, the network is not likely to achieve its 2015 targets for the completion of courses, and a concerted effort is needed during 2016 to improve performance on this metric.
 * The Partner Engagement group has stratified the target audiences for support resources, and plans are progressing to configure materials according to the information needs of different groupings. For example. the group will continue the development of training materials for the induction of new OERu partners.
 * The Standing Committee for Credit Transfer has reviewed the OERu Credit Transfer and Course Articulation Guidelines and has received positive feedback from a small sample of registrars confirming that the guidelines would be implementable at their respective institutions.
 * The Curriculum and Programme of Study working group are working on a framework and programme of study specification for the OERu 1st year of study.
 * Through a series of synchronous web conferences, the Course Nomination and Quality group focused energies this year on inducting new members into the OERu philosophy, goals, technologies and design processes.
 * The network convened regional meetings in Oceania and North America to progress the design of open business models for the OERu.
 * Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the OERu project is progressing according to plan with the completion of the Input Evaluation survey, and a draft report distributed for the meeting.

Critical friend review
Participants were randomly assigned to four groups along with one virtual group and tasked to: identify what the OERu has done well; identify areas where the OERu can improve; and identify the top priorities the meeting should address (Note: The consolidated feedback below has been assembled from the feedback recorded by Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 and the Virtual Group.). Three priorities for the meeting emerged from the process: Developing minimum viable product for the OERu first year of study; Marketing the OERu concept for learners and prospective partners; and refining a number of operational practices.

Summary of what the OERu is doing well

 * 1) Vision
 * 2) * Compelling vision - but need to align policy for implementation
 * 3) * Strength through diversity - amassed an impressive group of international partner members without much funding
 * 4) * Succeeding in gaining endorsement of the OERu concept from partners
 * 5) Open planning
 * 6) * Modelling open governance and open management approaches in education.
 * 7) * Good management structure – everyone can participate and move things forward
 * 8) * Models open practices: Every step of the movement is documented and transparent
 * 9) * Genuine bottom-up movement
 * 10) Operations
 * 11) * Maintaining a comprehensive and transparent record of participation in the planning, design and development of the OERu innovation partnership.
 * 12) * Comprehensive model that has considered all the parts
 * 13) * Prototyped several methods of course delivery, including parallel integration with fee paying students.
 * 14) * Good work done in technology area including ability for institutions to reuse OERu content in their own learning environments
 * 15) * Improved access to information via the front end (CMS)
 * 16) * Increased participation in [OERu/Quicklinks|working groups] have helped increase focus on necessary operational areas
 * 17) * Improved structure of planning portal with information easier to find.

Summary of where the OERu can improve

 * 1) Product development
 * 2) * Urgent need for completed courses - otherwise more managing than building courseware
 * 3) * Need to develop a sense of urgency to execute on the plan: development and delivery of courses, and at least a suggestion of a pathway to a complete degree program.
 * 4) * Need parallel progress in course and framework development and need to provide streams / themes of study.
 * 5) Network and capacity development
 * 6) * Need dedicated capacity at the network level for getting things done - distributed model makes it hard to get critical mass of doers
 * 7) * Improve skill level of participants of OERu network to engage with open design and open collaboration
 * 8) * Explore "ways and means" of facilitating coordination among relevant working groups, who are focussing on shared KPIs.
 * 9) * Share progress, concerns, successes openly in the mailing lists (or discussion forum) at all stages of development (early and often)
 * 10) * Widen awareness of, and participation in, the OERu initiative within each partner institution.
 * 11) * Need to encourage the "silent partners" to contribute in their areas of expertise.
 * 12) Marketing
 * 13) * OERu is a complex distributed organisation - Information overload, hard to know what the OERu is about from the wiki.
 * 14) * Do a better job of selling internal organisational benefits of OERu - need succinct description of the benefits of participation.
 * 15) * Selling clear benefits to CEOs e.g. newsletter
 * 16) * Raise awareness of the OERu once we have achieved Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
 * 17) Open technologies
 * 18) * Technology may be difficult to use for some learners
 * 19) * Get institutional IT / Technology staff at OERu participating in OERu technology group.
 * 20) * Capacity development in open source software
 * 21) * Raise awareness of open technologies. Are we developing appropriate support resources for partner institutions to utilise open technologies?
 * 22) * Take advantage of partner course delivery platforms and technologies in addition to centrally hosted infrastructure.
 * 23) Credentialing
 * 24) * Concerns about micro-credentials - OERu must ensure that courses integrate into accreditation process
 * 25) * Solutions needed to clarify how credit hours translate across jurisdictions
 * 26) Other
 * 27) * Institutional leadership for OERu implementation

Priorities the OERu meeting should address

 * 1) Progress minimum viable product
 * 2) * Develop a pragmatic strategy/operational plan for achieving the minimum viable product for the "OERu First Year of Study" initiative
 * 3) * Endorse the essence of David Porter's proposal to concentrate efforts on modelling the "OERu end-to-end process" as follows:
 * 4) *# 5 to 10 exemplar courses completed by a target date (eg June 2016)
 * 5) *#Hosted on a common platform and available from one location (OERu.org) from which students can participate
 * 6) *# On completion students could be directed to OERu institutions providing assessment, where they could achieve a credit-based assessment towards transcript credit that would be awarded, badged and recognised towards an exit credential.
 * 7) Marketing
 * 8) * Raising global awareness of the OERu network
 * 9) * How to sell the OERu concept to decision-makers
 * 10) * Recruiting prospective learners
 * 11) Operations
 * 12) * Expand the OERu regional meeting model
 * 13) * Progress development of standard exams / testing

Session 3: OERu operations and promoting effective collaboration
OERu partner decision-making often enhanced with openly posted member survey data e.g. survey results #grassroots

The aim of Session 3 was to reflect on progress during 2015 &mdash; the OERu's consolidation year.

Viewed from the perspective of a maturity model framework, the OERu network is transitioning from the initial phase to the repeatable phase. The initial phase is the starting point of a new and undocumented open project and is typically ad hoc and can appear chaotic at times. The repeatable phase is the juncture where open processes trialled during the first phase can be documented to the extent that repeating the same steps can be attempted. This phase is followed by the managed openness where quality is managed in accordance with agreed metrics before moving onto optimisation where deliberate processes and practices for optimisation and improvement can be implemented. 2016 will progress the OERu from the consolidation phase to the implementation phase.

Drawing from the network's experience to date and the data from the input evaluation survey, the following aspects of OERu operation were discussed with the view to proposals for action to promote effective collaboration and implementation of the project:


 * 1) Improving the Institutional Action Plan (IAP) process
 * 2) Improving the course nomination process
 * 3) Promoting effective open collaboration.

Improving the IAP process
The OERu 2014 partner's meeting agreed to implement Institutional Action Plans (IAPs) as a requirement of OERu membership where each partner indicates how they plan to allocate their agreed 0.2FTE contribution to the network linked to the annual KPIs and operational priorities of the OERu strategic plan. The IAP process was implemented for the first time during 2015. Rachel Prinsloo, Academic Transformation Specialist at Unisa and primary OERu contact shared the University's approach in developing their IAP.

In May 2014, Unisa approved an OER strategy. The OERu IAP process at Unisa was shared at the meeting as an example of how the University completed its IAP. Rachel's presentation, Crafting the Unisa OERu Institutional Action Plan, profiled an organisation-wide consultation process where each college in the university was consulted on establishing their commitments to engage in a systematic manner to create and integrate OER into their courses aligned with the OERu and the University's strategic goals. The items from the OERu input survey were used as a catalyst for the consultation discussions. This process resulted in an IAP project plan with corresponding budget which was approved by the Executive Management of the University. The internal OERu IAP process has succeeded in raising shared awareness of the internal and external challenges associated with open education approaches. Unisa has identified areas and "agents" to effect realignment for example, policy and identification of areas for alignment with OER including policy, quality assurance programme approvals, accreditation, funding and enrolment planning.

There is consensus that the IAP process is valuable approach to document and share institutional commitments to OERu and should be continued. It was noted that priority must be given to finalising the development of at least one of the institution's full course nominations so that the completed course could be offered to OERu learners as early as possible during 2016. The implication is that it would be better to invite partners to update and refine the current IAPs in the light of this priority and execute the next round of IAPs for 2017 to be discussed at the 2016 partners meeting. Group 1 and the virtual participants proposed the following refinements and improvements to the IAP process:


 * 1) Adapt the IAP form to include the all the metadata for completing the course nomination information in the wiki to avoid follow up requests. (The original 2015 form did not include all relevant metadata for course nominations in the IAP.)
 * 2) Improve the format so that the IAP becomes a "living action plan" with defined outputs and who is responsible for those outputs, recognising that the OERu IAPs are dynamic and should be updated as new information comes to hand.
 * 3) Incorporate options in the IAP for active collaboration on development among partners and possible joint delivery of OERu courses.
 * 4) The OERu should improve the briefing process to support the IAP call taking institutional readiness into account as partners are on different phases of the OER journey. This process should help new partners gain better understanding of what OERu membership means.
 * 5) Design process to promote the call for the IAP to be made from the executive
 * 6) Distribute a succinct OERu progress report (1-page) biannually to Chief Executive Officers of partner institutions - assign task to Strategic Planning working group.

Improving the course nomination process
Question 14 of the input evaluation survey provides valuable insights into the factors OERu partners should take into account when determining future course nominations. In order of priority, the network considers the following factors to be taken into account when nominating a course for the OERu:


 * 1) Quality of the course
 * 2) Support from the relevant academics to assemble the course from OER
 * 3) The utility of the course nominated for prospective OERu learners
 * 4) Filling gaps in the existing OERu program of study
 * 5) Capability and experience of the academic and support staff in the design and assembly of open courses.

Additional considerations include: the time and effort of converting closed courses to open alternatives; the availability of existing full OER courses and OER resources in the respective discipline or subject area.

Group 2 and the virtual group discussed a number of challenges:


 * 1) A Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) is hard to market to prospective learners noting that subjects attractive for future "employability" could be integrated into the BGS.
 * 2) Some participants suggested that a Bachelor of Business might be more "marketable" to prospective OERu learners, but in the absence of course nominations from partners in the commerce domain, the network must work with the courses we have.
 * 3) Noted the tension between the needs of education in developing countries for getting jobs that exist in those countries, versus adult learners completing their first degree in developed countries where broader employment options exist. The OERu needs multiple courses/programs to suite diverse needs.
 * 4) Suggested that OERu find ways to incentivise partners to contribute core curriculum &mdash; not just niche/halo courses

Recommended proposals for action

 * 1) Progress a focused Expression of Interest (EOI) for partners to collaborate on nominating and/or developing courses needed for a programm of study (possibly with funding support)
 * 2) Appoint a course or programme director(s) to drive the development of a number of coherent programs of study taking market needs into account. The programme director should join and work closely with the Curriculum and programme of study working group.
 * 3) Establish a category of institutions willing to credential existing OER-based courses offered by non-OERu partners.

Promoting effective open collaboration and marketing
Given the high priority of marketing determined during the critical friend review during Session 2, it was agreed that Group 3 would incorporate this topic into their discussions.

Marketing
Acknowledged that the OERu has not much made much progress on the marketing front. The OERu needs minimum viable product in order to market an exit award for prospective OERu learners. The group noted different levels and audiences, for example:


 * Marketing OERu to recruit new partners - Executive level
 * Marking OERu within partner institutions - institutions need to understand the purpose in order to engage

Simple infographics and animated videos were suggested as a means to convey the message. It was also suggested that OERu marketing needs to consider how it fits into institutional branding. During the feedback session, Wayne informed partners of a small capability development grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation of US$24,500 to assist with marketing, communications, and fund development for engaging a consultant to assist the OERu. Ideally these funds should be spent on the development of actual marketing artefacts rather than consultation on a marketing plan.

Open collaboration
Group 3 also discussed the topic of promoting effective collaboration:


 * Acknowledged that the OERu as an international network does not have many examples of collaboration in course development.
 * Noted that collaborative development could increase the quality of our course development outputs.
 * Incorporating collaboration encouragements at course proposal level could assist in developing a "skill-trading economy" within the network. For example one partner may have skills and capability in media production, whereas another partner may have unique subject matter expertise.
 * Noted that research collaborations is potentially a productive area.

Recommended proposals for action

 * 1) Introduce and facilitate options for collaboration at the point of course nominations
 * 2) Target collaboration pro-actively through demonstrator projects under Strategic Goal 4 of the OERu Strategic Plan.
 * 3) Activate the Marketing and Communications working group to progress the implementation of the OERu marketing plan.
 * 4) Continue to enhance communication and collaboration platforms and utilise local champions to encourage users of these platforms in their own OERu contexts (proposed by the virtual group).
 * 5) Implement informal online networking, for example regular online "office hours" in building trust and developing communities of practice aligned with OERu operations (proposed by the virtual group).

General considerations for improving OERu operations
These points were generated by the virtual group and have been transposed from the Etherpad document:


 * 1) OERu must make better reuse of existing OER courses by adopting and adapting not only from partners but the wider OER community.
 * 2) Technology considerations for the future: Does OERu need a central shared course platform or should the network consider a federated approach?  A federated approach could allow partners to use their platform of choice as long as it aligned with the open principles of being discoverable, using open standards and formats and agreed open licensing requirements.

Session 4: OERu open business models
Very proud that @kwantlenu is an #OERu partner. This is a sustainable initiative that will go on to fulfill the promise of #OER #icdeunisa

OERu’s planning framework has always included open business models. However, the early years of OERu were focused on establishing a critical mass of global partners and initial course offerings. Work to establish open business models for the whole initiative didn’t get seriously underway until 2015 with the launch of the Creative Commons open business models initiative (Stacey 2015 ).

Regional meetings and consultative development of OERu open business models
Paul Stacey Facilitated the Oceania and North American regional meetings to design, discuss and develop open business models from the perspective of OERu partner institutions. The OERF invited Paul to conduct an analysis of the OERu open business models and provide feedback during the partner's meeting. This session should be read in conjunction with:


 * OER Foundation Open Business Model - Perspective of central operations;
 * Aggregated OERu Partner Open Business Model - Perspective of OERu partner institution; and
 * Paul Stacey's report prepared for the meeting:

Analysis of OERu open business models
Paul noted that the OERF's use of multiple means of open in it’s business model has the potential to generate compound benefits. Paul cites the OERu as the most open of all the examples used to illustrate compound benefits of open. Open educational resources (OER), open educational practices (OEP), open access, open licensing, open source software, open planning, and open philanthropy are core practices integral to the OERu business model.

A key feature of the OERF open business model is that it us supported through social capital, largely in the form of time to assemble open courses and participate in the open management of the network, in addition to the revenue generated from membership fees to support central infrastructure and operations of the network. Notwithstanding the success of recruiting over 30 contributing partners from around the world, Paul has stressed the importance of engaging significantly more learners during the next phase of implementation to test out and refine the OERu models.

The open business models of OERu partner institutions focus largely on learner markets which have traditionally been excluded from access to higher education. OERu's social good is a compelling reason for institutions to join the network. Consequently, a large number of partners see their participation as purely philanthropic. However, there are a cluster of OERu partners who are exploring opportunities for revenue generation through a disaggregated service provision model enabled through open education approaches adopted by the OERu. Paul also sites that learning how openness works and developing new practices and innovations associated with open education are important motivations for participation in the network.

Areas which require further development during the implementation phase include: Marketing and channels of communication to attract and engage learner participation; Maximising the return on time and effort in assembling courses by integrating OERu offerings as "dual purpose" serving the needs of existing institution students as well as OERu learners.

Proposals for action

 * 1) Engage significantly more learners during the implementation phase of assembling MVP to test out and refine the OERu open business models.
 * 2) Progress and refine the marketing and channels of communication components to attract and engage learner participation.
 * 3) Increase the number of OERu courses which are developed as "dual purpose" offerings where courses are assembled to serve the needs of existing institution students as well as OERu learners.
 * 4) Prepare a succinct summary of the OERu open business models for distributing the business model canvases to executive management of the OERu partner institutions for reuse and remix in developing their own business models.

Session 5: Achieving minimum viable product
The aim of the OERu 2016 implementation year is to transition from the 2013 soft-launch to the implementation of a minimum viable product (MVP) of courses leading to an exit credential which models an “end-to-end” process to demonstrate the complete OERu scenario for partner institutions from concept design to credit award.
 * 1) OERu partners debating the best way to answer "the Porter Challenge" @dendroglyph.

This session focused on defining MVP for the OERu implementation year in response to the requirements David Porter has suggested for modelling an end-to-end process, namely:
 * 5 to 10 exemplar courses
 * Completed by an agreed target date
 * Hosted on a common platform
 * Available from one location (OERu.org) from which students can participate

Two examples of open course initiatives were tabled as a catalyst for discussions. Rory McGreal referenced the Modern States Education Alliance which aims to create a tuition-free first year of study by seeking broader recognition, accreditation and transferability for MOOCs. The Modern States Freshman Year for Free aims to provide 30 provide a set of approximately 30 high quality, college courses, available tuition-free online, along with free online texts and materials. The Texas State University System has already announced its partnership with Modern States to provide a free year of study and will recognise credit through Advanced Placement or the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) which will provide low cost assessment options for formal academic credit. Marc Singer summarised the Open Course Option for an Associate in Science in Business Administration degree at Thomas Edison State College. Students can take free, open, online courses from the Saylor Academy and earn formal academic credit through a combination of: the College's credit-by-exam program (TECEP®), CLEP examinations; Saylor's National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS); and American Council on Education (ACE) Credit exams, which have been evaluated and recommended for college credit.
 * Upon course completion students are to be directed to OERu institutions providing assessment, where they could achieve a credit-based assessment, providing transcript credit that would be awarded, badged and recognised towards an exit credential.

Given the importance for the OERu to progress MVP leading to an exit credential, discussions for this session progressed in plenary rather than the working in the breakout groups suggested in the programme agenda. There was strong consensus from the group to adopt Porter's suggested requirements for the OERu minimum viable product (see above). There was a prolonged discussion dealing with the complexities of various course sizes (credits) in different national jurisdictions including the advantages and disadvantages of using micro-courses. The session concluded with an agreement on the steps to achieve and complete a programme specification for the OERu 1st year of study.

Proposals for action to achieve MVP

 * 1) Partners agreed that the OERu will implement a tuition-free 1st year of study leading to an exit award during 2016 and proposed the following steps:
 * 2) Survey OERu partners to identify those that can offer an exit award for the 1st year of study. The Certificate in Higher Education was nominated by the University of the Highlands and Islands.
 * 3) Delineate detailed requirements for the identified awards to ensure that the OERu model meets the specified requirements.
 * 4) Review how existing OERu 1st year courses fit the selected awards and call for nominations to fill identified gaps.
 * 5) Partners agreed to use WikiEducator as the primary authoring environment for MVP, and courses will be hosted on a common platform provided by the OERF using the new OERu theme.

Session 6: Credit transfer & technology decisions
Unanimous acceptance of "credit transfer and accumulation" guidelines to be presented to #OERu CEOs is a major milestone for the network.

Marc Singer facilitated this session to review and approve the draft OERu guidelines for credit transfer and course articulation. Participants were reminded during Day 1 to review the guidelines in advance of this session. Marc noted that the guidelines were first tabled at the 3rd meeting of OERu partners hosted the previous year in Tasmania. Marc noted that the Standing Committee for Credit Transfer had reviewed the guidelines during 2015 including a small sample of Registrars from the network. Feedback has been positive affirming that guidelines could be implemented at the institutions who had reviewed the guidelines without the need for any policy changes.

Each section of the draft guidelines were presented to participants during the plenary session and Marc tabled a proposal for meeting to approve the guidelines. The guidelines were unanimously accepted.

Wayne Mackintosh demonstrated a responsive OERu course site generated from an outline of individual wiki pages. He also summarised the findings of the technology related questions from input evaluation survey (see Q27 & Q28). Ranked in order of priority, the OER partners have recommended the following technology considerations:


 * 1) The ability to reuse OERu courses in the local learning management system
 * 2) Building skills in open source development approaches
 * 3) Collaborative authoring environment with version control

The technology infrastructure provided by the OERF meets the technology requirement recommendations and the Digitial Skills for Collaborative OER Development course provides capacity building support in open design approaches. The wiki technology infrastructure and corresponding processes for generating snapshots for course websites will be adopted for the OERu MVP implementation.

Decisions and proposal for action

 * 1) OERu Guidelines for credit transfer are approved
 * 2) Proposal to change the name to "Credit transfer and credit accumulation guidelines" by Martin Oosthuizen was approved.
 * 3) Implementation documents, including handbooks and procedures will be developed consultative as "living" documents for future approval.

Session 7: eMundus: Open education & virtual mobility
Rory McGreal updated the meeting on the progress of the eMundus project. eMundus is an initiative supported by the European Commission which aims to strengthen cooperation and awareness among Higher Education Institutions worldwide by exploring the potential of Open Approaches including OER, MOOCs and Virtual Mobility.

The project has:


 * 1) Completed a number of fact-finding country reports on the state of OER
 * 2) Developed an online atlas for mapping open education practices around the globe including MOOCs and the impact of virtual mobility on the internationalisation of Higher Education.
 * 3) Prepared a collection of tools and approaches to support educators who are embarking on the adoption of open education strategies.
 * 4) Commenced work on preparing the final report and recommendations.

Session 8: 2016 operational priorities and KPIs
Aligned with the principles of engagement, OERu partner meetings take the form of a strategic planning sprint aimed at producing outputs in a short time utilising the diverse experience of attendees. The proposals for action generated during the meeting are taken as a starting point for further improvement in the wiki. These revisions are then considered by the working group structures of the OERu. The meeting commenced work on calibrating priorities and key performance indicators for 2016.

Strategic Goal 1: Develop a coherent OERu programme of study with defined learning pathways and exit credentials
Group 1 noted that we have nominations for eight 1st-year, full-course equivalents. These could be included for the MVP exit award for the 1st year of study. A small number of these nominations have been completed or are nearing completion and could easily be configured for delivery using the wiki snapshot approach. The group suggested that a minimum of 5 additional courses targeting non-elective / mainstream subjects, for example English, Math, Ethics, Economics should be nominated. Ideally, the additional courses should be nominated from subject areas that can enhance employability prospects for OERu learners. It was also noted that reusing and remixing existing OER courses which are aligned with CLEP examinations would progress OERu product development and would only require minimal adaptation for the OERu delivery model. The minimum baseline requirement for a 1st year of study is 10 courses, without providing learners with any subject choice. However the group recommends that the OERu works towards providing some learner choice, targeting 15 courses by the end of 2016.

The group proposed the development of three streams of study designed to enhance employability of OERu learners, for example International development, Healthcare, Business & Technology, Electrical Engineering, and Education. Three programme directors should be identified from the OERu network to conduct an OER audit and develop a project plan by April 2016 for progressing the implementation of the streams of study.

Decisions and proposed key performance indicators

 * 1) Complete 10 courses required for MVP for the 1st year of study by April 2016
 * 2) Complete an additional 5 1st-year level courses by December 2016 to facilitate wider learner choice.
 * 3) Identify three programme directors to collaborate with the Curriculum and Programme of Study working group to develop a project plan for implementing three streams of study designed to enhance employability of prospective OERu learners.

Strategic Goal 2: Improve processes for efficient OERu operations that underpin academic quality at scale
The discussions of Group 2 focused on the objective relating to community engagement and corresponding resources to support new partners for effective engagement in the OERu network. The group stressed the need for guided mentorship with a "human touch" for new OERu partners from more experienced members. The group noted that new partners experienced difficulties in locating core documents for introduction into the network. The virtual group proposed targets for improving partner engagement in OERu technology implementation.

Decisions and proposed key performance indicators

 * 1) Improve human-level sport for new OERu members in addition to support materials and courses (noting that mentors need support, resources and training).
 * 2) Establish a section on the main oeru.org site for new partners providing accessible pathways to core documents and resources to support new partners.
 * 3) Explore solutions for in-person, on-site visits from regional partners to help mentor new members.
 * 4) Ensure that all active OERu partners maintain their institutional profiles and scheduled course offerings on the public facing OERu.org site.
 * 5) Have technical contribution from at least 20% of the partners, either in infrastructure provision or software development.

Strategic Goal 3: Achieve a fiscally sustainable and scalable OERu network
Group 3 discussed ideas and strategies for ongoing partner recruitment and diversifying funding sources. The idea of "adopting an organisation in need" where the network could collaborate on strategic capability development could motivate engagement through work towards a realisable and tangible goal. The group discussed raising profile and awareness of the OERu by focusing effort on the successful completion of a small number of showcase flagship deliveries: for example a full OERu programme leading to an exit award or offering an OERu course for a traditionally high enrolment subject. The groups stressed the importance of using open education approaches in solving real-world problems and suggested the inclusion of a sustainability stream in response to the United Nations sustainable development goals.

Decisions and proposed key performance indicators

 * 1) Prioritise the successful completion of a showcase (flagship) delivery of a large enrolment open course and 1 full programme leading to an exit award.
 * 2) Incorporate a sustainable development stream in the OERu programme of study to focus on real world problems, for example water conservation / quality, Food security, sustainable practices etc.
 * 3) Diversify funding sources (for example targeting corporate citizenship to sponsor OERu courses and widening donor funding sources.)
 * 4) Recruit and additional 15 partners by the end of 2016.

Session 9: Conclusion and the way forward
Participants reviewed and agreed the decision proposals and issues generated during the course of the OERu partner's meeting to be tabled at the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers on 9 October 2015.

Prof Clive Mulholland, Vice Chancellor at the University of Highlands and Islands confirmed that the 2016 meetings of the OERu partners and CEOs will be hosted at the University in Inverness, Scotland, confirmed for 3 - 5 October.

Prof Martin Oosthuizen concluded the meeting with a vote of thanks to Rassie Louw and Luzelle van Rensburg from North-West University for their outstanding support and preparations for the 4th meeting of OERu partners.