Sustainability definition ‘an open educational resource project ongoing ability to meet its goals’ (David Wiley 2007).
The MIT Model
Publish each and every course in the University Catalogue. Republishing new versions and archiving old ones
Big Undertaking
Employs at least 29 people on the ‘opencourseware’ project
X6000 3rd party owned content each year
Contracts with a number of vendors
10 000USD/Course (540 courses)
HIGHLY CENTRALISED
TIGHTLY COORDINATED
PAID EMPLOYEES
HIGH CONTROL
The USU Model
Publish as many courses in the USU catalogue as possible
X1 F/T Project Director and x5 P/t Student Assistants
Faculty volunteer
Removes ALL 3rd party content from courses replacing with equivalent material owned by USU
Recruits by word of mouth
5000 USD/Course (25 courses)
Could be replicated to other Universities
HYBRID OF CENTRALISATION AND DECENTRALISATION OF BOTH ORGANISATION AND SERVICES
The Rice Model
Collaborative development of educational modules by authors around the world
No target of courses to be developed
Not all modules/courses are taught by the host university
Authors contribute material to the site
Site is self-organising
No-one coordinates what is being built
No tech/pedagogical support
No removal of 3rd party content
Little financial backing
Very low cost per course development
Good job of facilitating, gathering and collaborating authoring of individuals around the globe
Passion plays a large role in some of its success
ALMOST FULLY DECENTRALISED
VOLUNTEERS PROVIDE ALMOST ALL SERVICES
SMALL DEGREE OF CONTROL
Review of 4 Open Educational Initiatives and the Model that best fits
CHANGE MOOC
Rice Model – contributions by authors for across the globe and facilitating, gathering and collaborating to refine theories and future delivery.
Obvious passion drives forward developments with voluntary contributions
Does have some attributes of the USU model with a hub of staff supported by voluntary contributions
COURSERA
USU Model – combination of centralisation and de-centralisation. There is obvious structure and an element of control although there is a vision of sharing to benefit all
JORUM
Rice Model – collaboration by many. Almost fully decentralised. Low level of coordination and focus is not on courses specifically but a sharing platform for use for many to revise and reuse in a format that meets their course need
OPENLEARN
MIT Model – access to OERs on large scale with a broad range of courses. A nucleus of staff such as OpenLearn Moderators to ensure efficient running and support to users. Although high control there does seem to have some characteristics of the USU Model
As mentioned in previous comments it can be very difficult to sit each OER in a specific Model. I conclude that these models work best when viewed in the perspective of a spectrum where MIT is at one end and Rice at the other with USU sitting in the middle and that each initiative could be placed somewhere on that line. See my attempt of demonstrating this below:
Sustainability - 01/04/14
Sustainability definition ‘an open educational resource project ongoing ability to meet its goals’ (David Wiley 2007).
The MIT Model
The USU Model
The Rice Model
Review of 4 Open Educational Initiatives and the Model that best fits
CHANGE MOOC
Rice Model – contributions by authors for across the globe and facilitating, gathering and collaborating to refine theories and future delivery.
Obvious passion drives forward developments with voluntary contributions
Does have some attributes of the USU model with a hub of staff supported by voluntary contributions
COURSERA
USU Model – combination of centralisation and de-centralisation. There is obvious structure and an element of control although there is a vision of sharing to benefit all
JORUM
Rice Model – collaboration by many. Almost fully decentralised. Low level of coordination and focus is not on courses specifically but a sharing platform for use for many to revise and reuse in a format that meets their course need
OPENLEARN
MIT Model – access to OERs on large scale with a broad range of courses. A nucleus of staff such as OpenLearn Moderators to ensure efficient running and support to users. Although high control there does seem to have some characteristics of the USU Model
As mentioned in previous comments it can be very difficult to sit each OER in a specific Model. I conclude that these models work best when viewed in the perspective of a spectrum where MIT is at one end and Rice at the other with USU sitting in the middle and that each initiative could be placed somewhere on that line. See my attempt of demonstrating this below:
MIT___________________________USU__________________________RICE
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
Open Learn Coursera Change Mooc Jorum
References:
Read Wiley (2007), On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education.