Presentation given at Follow the Sun, 29 March 2012. The recording will be available from www.tinyurl.com/followthesun.

1. The OER university: pushing – and pulling
– the boundaries in higher education
Gabi Witthaus
For Follow the Sun Learning Futures Festival,
29/03/2012 (www.tinyurl.com/followthesun)

2. TOUCANS: Testing the OERu Concept
and Aspirations: A National Study
www.le.ac.uk/toucans
Image by
Tim Sträter

3. Teaching one-to-one
Image by marinakvillatoro on flickr

4. Local
assessment
and
credentialling
Friesen & Murray, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

5. Teaching one-to-many(ish)
Image by Daniel Scully on flickr

6. Local
assessment
and
credentialling
Friesen & Murray, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

7. Local
assessment
and
credentialling
Friesen & Murray, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

8. But can these
models work…

9. for teaching on a massive
scale?
Image by James Cridland

10. OERu partners
aim to reach 100
million under-
served adults
http://wikieducator.org/Oeru

11. Local
assessment
and
credentialling
Friesen & Murray, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

12. This is… “Open Learning 2.0”: … Any
student can study any content, supported
in any number of instructional
arrangements… The “local” institutional
evaluation and accreditation… (remain)
at the centre of the model… Even though
learning is achieved through flexible
arrangements, it can… still be rigorously
assessed and credentialed. (Friesen and
Murray, 2011)
http://tinyurl.com/openlearning2-0

13. But will it work for the learners?
Help!!!!!
Photo by Erik Charlton

14. Volunteers to the rescue?
Photo by MisterJamie

15. Learner support
Administrative Technical Academic

17. Many thanks to the following people for their generous sharing of information:
•Prof. Terry Anderson (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education,
Athabasca University, Canada)
•Dr Elizabeth Archer (Specialist: Institutional Research at the University of South Africa)
•Kevin Bell (Innovation Team: Leader of Learning and Development, Southern New
Hampshire University, USA)
•David Bull (Director: University Preparatory Programs, University of Southern
Queensland, Australia)
•Irwin DeVries (Director, Instructional Design, Thompson Rivers University, Canada)
•Vasi Doncheva (Flexible Learning Manager, Northtec Polytechnic, New Zealand)
•Wayne Mackintosh (Director: International Centre for Open Education, Otago
Polytechnic, New Zealand, and Founding Director of the OER Foundation)
•Prof. Rory McGreal (Associate Vice-President, Athabasca University, Canada)
•Prof. Joyce McKnight (Associate Professor, State University of New York/ Empire
State College, USA. Speaking in her personal capacity as a scholar.)
•Terry Neal (Flexible Learning Manager, Open Polytechnic, New Zealand)
•Paul Stacey (Director, Curriculum Development, BC Campus, Canada)
•Herbert Thomas (Electronic Learning Media Team Leader, Canterbury University, New
Zealand)
•Prof. Sandra Wills (Executive Director, Learning and Teaching, Wollongong University,
Australia)
Thanks also to Dr Patrick McAndrew at the Open University and colleagues at the
University of Leicester, especially Dr Ming Nie and Dr Alejandro Armellini, for their
support in this research.

18. Blog: toucansproject.wordpress.com
Please use the blog to continue the discussion
Image by Clearly Ambiguous on flickr