and Sean Connor (Saylor Academy) at the OERu 2017 Partners Meeting
Coordinated by the not-for-profit OER Foundation, the OERu (www.oeru.org) is a network of institutions offering free, openly-licensed online courses and affordable academic credit to students worldwide. Member institutions span multiple continents and include Athabasca University in Canada, Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand, University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, University of South Africa and the Institute of Technology in Ireland.
Our partnership formalizes long exchange between Saylor Academy and other OERu members. Some longstanding OERu member institutions have remixed Saylor courses for use in creating affordable college credit opportunities for students around the world.
Wayne McIntosh, Director of the OER Foundation and an OERu facilitator, offered this welcome:
“The Saylor Academy is an outstanding pioneer of open education. The OERu is excited to join forces with Saylor in widening access to free and open online courses with affordable pathways to gain micro-credentials and recognised qualifications worldwide. These partnerships between like-minded institutions create innovations on a scale that would not be possible working alone.”
We are kicking off our formal entry into the OERu family by attending the 6th international meeting of OERu partners this week in Toronto, Canada.
Jeff Davidson, Executive Director of Saylor Academy, spoke of our joining the OERu network in terms of our essential mission:
“We have had a long kindred connection to the OERu’s mission and an allied, but unofficial working relationship. We now strengthen those bonds to help push the global open education movement forward to create more ultra low cost credentials and college credit for students around the world.”
We have just returned from the OERu 2017 Partners Meeting, hosted by the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.
This meeting set the ground work for developing the OERu’s next three year strategic plan for 2018-2020 — as the plan takes shape in the coming months, we look forward to furthering existing relationships and inaugurating new collaborations with our fellow OERu members!
Photo courtesy of James Glapa-Grossklag