Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Resources Degrees Defined Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. (Source: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ) For the purposes of this initiative, Open Educational Resources Degrees are one-year or two-year postsecondary programs which are offered to students using openly licensed resources in place of proprietary textbooks. Project Elements The Open Educational Resources Degree Initiative will feature four lines of work: implementation, technical assistance, building a community of practice, and research and evaluation. Implementation by early adopters demonstrates the model: The initiative will directly support 20-30 early adopter colleges, including both individual colleges and college systems, to create new OER Degree programs. Institutions participating in the initiative will be expected to meet certain criteria, including a commitment to share data and materials, high-level administrative support, faculty champions, willingness to seek matching funds, and attention to serving low income students and students of color. Technical assistance delivers successful degree programs: Many faculty and institutions may not have the time and expertise to create OER Degrees on their own. The initiative will partner with Lumen Learning to provide technical assistance to initiative grantees in order to augment local expertise and build capacity in these critical areas. Building a community of practice sustains grassroots culture change: Collaboration between faculty and across institutions can help speed adoption of OER Degrees. The Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) is an international community of educators who are committed to the development and use of open educational resources in community colleges. The CCCOER will help build capacity among college administrators, faculty, librarians, and instructional designers to champion OER Degrees within and beyond the initiative institutions. Research and evaluation establishes the impacts of OER Degrees: Rigorous research and evaluation is essential to establishing and communicating the benefits of OER Degrees. SRI International will lead research in three major areas: educational outcomes, financial sustainability of OER Degrees, and formative evaluation to improve the work of the colleges and future adopters. Scope of Work for Participating Institutions
Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Resources Degrees Defined Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. (Source: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ) For the purposes of this initiative, Open Educational Resources Degrees are one-year or two-year postsecondary programs which are offered to students using openly licensed resources in place of proprietary textbooks. Project Elements The Open Educational Resources Degree Initiative will feature four lines of work: implementation, technical assistance, building a community of practice, and research and evaluation. Implementation by early adopters demonstrates the model: The initiative will directly support 20-30 early adopter colleges, including both individual colleges and college systems, to create new OER Degree programs. Institutions participating in the initiative will be expected to meet certain criteria, including a commitment to share data and materials, high-level administrative support, faculty champions, willingness to seek matching funds, and attention to serving low income students and students of color. Technical assistance delivers successful degree programs: Many faculty and institutions may not have the time and expertise to create OER Degrees on their own. The initiative will partner with Lumen Learning to provide technical assistance to initiative grantees in order to augment local expertise and build capacity in these critical areas. Building a community of practice sustains grassroots culture change: Collaboration between faculty and across institutions can help speed adoption of OER Degrees. The Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) is an international community of educators who are committed to the development and use of open educational resources in community colleges. The CCCOER will help build capacity among college administrators, faculty, librarians, and instructional designers to champion OER Degrees within and beyond the initiative institutions. Research and evaluation establishes the impacts of OER Degrees: Rigorous research and evaluation is essential to establishing and communicating the benefits of OER Degrees. SRI International will lead research in three major areas: educational outcomes, financial sustainability of OER Degrees, and formative evaluation to improve the work of the colleges and future adopters. Scope of Work for Participating Institutions
oer_application_march_28_2016.docx