OE Global 2019

In the last decade, many jurisdictions and institutions have identified open education as a strategic priority. Potential for cost-savings and flexible pedagogy often compel decision makers to consider open education as a policy mechanism to off-set the increasingly costly and difficult reality of higher education.

When policy-makers approach open education as a band-aid solution the funding takes a similar shape. It’s one time. It’s limited. It’s bound up within the constraints of a fiscal year. And, the bodies responsible for this funding, such as eCampusOntario, are forced to act quickly. Funding is distributed in an ad hoc fashion, and the ripple effect continues. Tiny pockets of good work surface and fizzle. No real progress is made in any particular direction or with any particular goal.

While the funding streams for open education may remain precarious, there is an opportunity to break the cycle and realize the potential of a strategic, coordinated approach to OER development.

eCampusOntario has recently launched the Open at Scale initiative, an approach that originated in Ontario through conversations with passionate practitioners and discipline leaders such as deans and directors, that saw an opportunity to pursue open education at a systemic level. Open at Scale is a targeted approach to open educational resource (OER) development. It is the decision to focus on a single subject vertical, identify gaps in the landscape, leverage existing assets and build out the rest.

This session will share the Ontario framework for Open at Scale and invite participants to consider strategies for the coordinated development of open educational resources across multiple jurisdictions in a single subject vertical. Discussion will focus on the foundational principles and values held by participating partner organizations to achieve maximum success while maintaining independence and appropriate jurisdictional oversight.