OERu/Planning/Curriculum and programme of study/2015.07 Meeting of curriculum and programmes of study group

When: NZST (Click on link for local time.) Where: Google Google Hangouts

Meeting papers and relevant links

 * 2014 Bachelor of General Studies survey
 * Current course development schedule (Click on Level in the heading row to arrange by year of study)
 * 2015 IAP submissions
 * Idealised 1st year for general education studies

Agenda

 * 1) Welcome and introductions
 * 2) Purpose of this meeting:
 * 3) * Review aims and objectives of the working group
 * 4) * Determine realistic output targets for the October OERu partners meeting
 * 5) Orientation of OERu planning pages
 * 6) Summary of what have we achieved to date
 * 7) Review of current aims and objectives of the working group
 * 8) *Aims
 * 9) ** Develop a clear degree structure with levels, streams and exit points whilst still providing for student flexibility and choice
 * 10) ** Clear pointers to universities that can grant the whole Bachelor of General Studies or equivalent degree.
 * 11) ** Agree solutions for communicating degree pathways, cost of assessment and degree completion for prospective OERu learners.
 * 12) *Objectives
 * 13) ** Understand what partners are thinking of putting forward
 * 14) ** Build on the initial thinking of possible degree pathways generated during the 2nd meeting of anchor partners.
 * 15) ** Foster collaborations between partners in curriculum development
 * 16) ** Foster reuse of courses and micro-courses in partner universities
 * 17) ** Map a Bachelor of General Studies with clear streams
 * 18) ** Consider certificates, diplomas and other exit points in the degree
 * 19) Review of 2015 KPI allocations for the curriculum and programme of study working group
 * 20) Output targets for in preparation for the October OERu partners meeting
 * 21) Proposed action items
 * 22) * Partner review and updating of the Course development schedule
 * 23) * Confirm members of the working group (i.e. 2014 members.)
 * 24) * Other?
 * 25) New OERu communication technologies
 * 26) * groups.oeru.org
 * 27) * community.oeru.org
 * 28) 2015 Action Calendar and next meeting

Minutes

 * 1) Attendance David Bull, Carina Bossu, Dave Lane and Wayne Mackintosh. (Will schedule separate session with the European members of the group).
 * 2) Welcomed Dave Lane, the new Open Source Technologist at the OERF and introduced Dave to members of the working group.
 * 3) Confirmed the purpose of the meeting as to review the aims and objectives of the working group and determine target outputs for the October partners meeting.
 * 4) Summarised progress to date:
 * 5) * Confirmed that 60% plus of OERu partners have a Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) or equivalent on their books based on the 2014 BGS partner survey
 * 6) * Reviewed Current course development schedule noting the smorgasbord of submissions and nominations for approximately 30% of the first year of study.
 * 7) * Acknowledged the importance of this working group to facilitate the development of a coherent programme of study for OERu learners recognising that this is a complex task.
 * 8) * Expressed disappointment in the slow rate of product development.
 * 9) * Confirmed the success of the 2015 IAP submissions in expanding the members of this working group, particularly from the Northern Hemisphere.
 * 10) * Agreed to schedule a separate synchronous meeting for colleagues in Europe due to time zone differences.
 * 11) * Reviewed the Idealised 1st year for general education studies page.
 * 12) Reviewed the aims and objectives of the working group
 * 13) * Resolved:
 * 14) *# That the working group will first focus on the 1st year of study as the primary objective and therefore move the objective of mapping the Bachelor of General studies to the longer term aims.
 * 15) *# To remove the redundant objective relating to what partners are planning to nominate which is now replaced by the Institutional Action Plan process.
 * 16) * Discussed ideas relating to the development of a proposal for the OERu 1st year general studies:
 * 17) ** Noted that more courses are needed for the the skills area, including for example, Essential Maths, Study Management, Academic and Professional writing, e-Literacy.
 * 18) ** Highlighted the advantage of micro-courses to facilitate reuse and articulation for different systems. For example 3 micro courses would equate to a 3 credit course in North America, whereas 4 micro courses would equate to a single course in Australia. However, noted the importance that a full set of micro courses should be nominated to ensure that these map to academic credit for courses on the books of the conferring institution.
 * 19) ** Discussed strategies for filling gaps where courses are needed, for example:
 * 20) **# Requesting CEO's at the Council of CEO's meeting to nominate courses to fill identified gaps.
 * 21) **# Outsourcing paid development and assembly of courses from revenue generated through new partner recruitment, corporate sponsorships and/or fund development work. The recent Hewlett capability development grant will be allocated to improving communications for partner recruitment and fund development.
 * 22) Reviewed the 2015 KPIs
 * 23) * Resolved
 * 24) *# That the KPI relating to a full BGS degree structure with pathways and streams is not likely to be achieved during 2015 and needs to be reworded to accommodate the 2015 priority of proposing a 1st year of general studies.
 * 25) *# To defer detailed development of the full degree structure untill after the 1st year of study document has been completed. Noted that this will assist with developing an idealised structure for the 2nd and 3rd years of study.
 * 26) Discussed new OERu communication technologies
 * 27) * groups.oeru.org - to be used as email list for working group communications and announcements
 * 28) * community.oeru.org - being trialled as community wide site. Requested participants to assist with seeding and registering posts on the site.
 * 29) * Reviewed the 2015 Action Calendar
 * 30) ** Local Australian and New Zealand partners agreed to meet during the upcoming regional meeting scheduled for 27 and 28 August 2015 to progress work on the outputs for the group. (Work will be done transparently in the wiki so that remote partners can participate.)
 * 31) ** Targeting completion of the 1st year of general studies proposal document for report back at the September meeting of the OERuMC.

Action items

 * 1) Initiate process for partners to review and update target dates for completion and request to upload new nominations from the recent IAPs on the Current course development schedule (A few are missing).
 * 2) Wayne to update the Idealised 1st year for general education studies page to include new 1st year nominations from the 2015 IAPs
 * 3) David Bull to trigger discussion on groups.oeru.org Done
 * 4) Revise aims and objectives of the working group on the landing page
 * 5) Amend KPIs for this group.