Giving Knowledge for Free & OER Stories!

• Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of OER (pdf version)
• Open Educational Resources (OER) Stories

GIVING KNOWLEDGE FOR FREE?
"Learning resources are often considered key intellectual property in a competitive higher education world. However, more and more institutions and individuals are sharing their digital learning resources over the Internet, openly and for free, as Open Educational Resources (OER). This study, building on previous OECD work on e-learning, asks why this is happening, who is involved and what the most important implications of this development are.

The report offers a comprehensive overview of the rapidly changing phenomenon of Open Educational Resources and the challenges it poses for higher education. It examines reasons for individuals and institutions to share resources for free, and looks at copyright issues, sustainability and business models as well as policy implications. It will be of particular interest to those involved in e-learning or strategic decision making within higher education, to researchers and to students of new technologies ...more "

OER STORIES?
"Case studies/stories of how institutions and individuals have developed or used OER would be a useful resource for awareness raising activities. Telling stories is a very powerful means of transmitting information. As one Community member (Zaid Ali Alsagoff) expressed it, "Stories inspire people and bring movements to life."

If you have developed or used OER and would be willing to share your experience with others then they would like to hear from you ...more"

Here are the inspirational OER stories shared until now:

• BCcampus, Canada (Paul Stacey)
• National University of Rwanda, Rwanda (Gerald Rwagasana)
• SCOLA pilot, Italy (Giusy Cannella)
• Digital Learning Pathway, Italy (Leonardo Tosi)
• New Zealand OER Project, New Zealand (Richard Wyles)
• Free Courseware Project, University of the Western Cape, South Africa (Philipp Schmidt)
• OpenLearn, The Open University, UK (Laura Dewis)
• OpenER, Open University of the Netherlands (Robert Schuwer)
• OER stories: The Sociatry Project with Harvard University (Eric J. Lindblom PhD)

I do suspect that many more OER stories will be shared in the near future, so please visit the OER stories site often to get the latest update.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
For starters we could for example join the OER Community. Remember, OER is not only about consuming free knowledge, but also about participating, contributing, sharing, collaborating, networking, promoting, and enhancing the global OER movement. If one cannot contribute knowledge, one can always be active in promoting and creating awareness to colleagues, institutions and communities. For example, I am using this free blogging tool to also promote OER.

In short, come and join the OER revolution :)