These are important initiatives, and we hope that the grantees will follow the lead set by the beneficiaries of a recent £7.8 million grant in the UK (see bit.ly/ibBcB), designing their solutions with openness in mind. For much of what succeeds in these efforts defies description in an academic article or conference presentation. If successful methods are not to slip away they must not only be measured and celebrated but also shared at a level of specificity rarely delivered outside of classroom observation or the publication of open educational resources. Naturally, we at the OCWC favor the OER approach!

Nor is OER useful only as a way of promulgating retention methods. Carol Lincoln, director of the Developmental Education Initiative and national director of Achieving the Dream for MDC says:

The pressing need to shore up weak academic skills in first-year students is one of the most significant, but least discussed, problems confronting higher education. Colleges that can figure out how to quickly and efficiently boost basic skills, particularly among students of color and low-income students, will play a leading role in helping them earn the college degrees necessary for economic success in America today. (see http://bit.ly/wouV8)

Teaching with OER provides quick, efficient, strategic remediation in the form of Flash Forward-Flash Back, a technique where an instructor “flashes back” to openly available background skills and information, granting students access to learning they missed the first time around. An instructor may also motivate current learning by flashing forward to applications in later coursework. This technique, and others like it, are particularly valuable to students who may be the first in their families to attend college and thus have considerably less opportunity to imagine where their efforts might lead them. As more and more courses become openly available, techniques like this will only increase in value.

Rana comes to us from MIT OCW, where he’s worked since March, 2006 on the Highights for High School project, a resource for high school math and science which includes both MIT OCW materials modified for the high school audience as well as presenting content created by MIT
students and outreach programs. In addition to having primary responsibility for the acquisition and publication of Highlights site content, Rana has worked extensively in the area of usability, conducting interviews and focus groups of over 200 teachers, students, administrators and policy makers in order to help the site meet the needs of secondary STEM education.

Iranian History

21H.615 The Middle East in 20th Century (MIT)
Spring 2003

17.405 / 17.406 Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East (MIT)
Fall 2003

MELC 20040 - Islamic Societies of the Middle East and North Africa: Religion, History, and Culture
(Notre Dame)
Fall 2005

Democracy and Political Theory

21A.245J / 17.045J Power: Interpersonal, Organizational and Global Dimensions
Fall 2005

17.508 The Rise and Fall of Democracy/ Regime Change
Spring 2002

17.522 Politics and Religion
Fall 2006

21H.001 How to Stage a Revolution
Fall 2007

17.582 Civil War
Spring 2005

21A.225J / SP.621J / WGS.621J Violence, Human Rights, and Justice
Fall 2004

Women and Politics

17.905 Forms of Political Participation: Old and New
Spring 2005

New Media and Politics

CMS.998 / CMS.600 New Media Literacies
Spring 2007

Art 23AC Foundations of American Cyber-Culture
Fall 2007

21L.015 Introduction to Media Studies
Fall 2003

21A.348 Photography and Truth
Spring 2005

Meena Hwang resigned her position on the OCWC Board of Directors last month, subsequent to resigning fro her position at Korea University. An OCWC Director is required to be an officer, director, trustee or employee of an OCWC member organization. Directors officially resign upon ceasing to be related to the members with which they were affiliated at the time of their election.

Many of you are already familiar with Meena from her work with KU OCW and KOCW. In addition to those responsibilities, Meena served on the OCWC Board of Directors from its inception in 2008 until her resignation from Korea University this past month. From her position on the OCWC staff, Meena will be able to extend many of the valuable projects she started in Korea, particularly the OCW Student Movement. I know that you will want to join me in saying how delighted we are with this opportunity to continue our collaboration with Meena.

Prior to that, she served for six years as Academic Director for SIT’s Madagascar program, developing, revising and evaluating curricula for interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in Environmental Studies and Cultural Geography.  Mary Lou has her BA in Psychology from Rutgers University (1988) her MA in International Administration from the School for International Training (1994) and is ABD in Environmental Studies.  Although not formally joining the OCWC staff until July 15, Mary Lou will be consulting informally with the board and staff over the coming weeks.

As you may be aware, the position of Interim Executive Director has been filled for the past nine months by Terri Bays of Notre Dame.  Terri will be stepping down on July 15th, but remaining with the Consortium on a part-time basis as Special Projects Manager to support Mary Lou as she settles in. The Consortium could not have succeeded as it has in the past year without Terri’s tireless efforts to move the organization forward.

Please join the members of the Board in welcoming Mary Lou and thanking Terri for her effort.

“The excellent range of materials will not only benefit Kaplan University students and staff, but students at other universities and members of the general public,” said Brian Ouellette, executive director of academic strategies and development at Kaplan Higher Education. “Our ultimate goal is to share knowledge and expertise and make Kaplan University’s approach to teaching and learning available to anyone.”

An OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high-quality academic material, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 institutions of higher education and associated organizations from around the world, creating a body of open academic content through a shared model. The OpenCourseWare Consortium aims to empower people across the globe and advance education.

“We are in the early stages of a ‘quiet revolution’ in higher education,” said Peter Smith, senior vice president of academic strategies and development at Kaplan Higher Education. “OCWC presents a unique opportunity for Kaplan University to be part of a global online, ‘open resources’ community of educators. The research and service opportunities are enormous. Ultimately, this work will change the way we understand learning and teaching. Kaplan University is proud to join the other member schools of the OCWC with the goal of providing free, high quality learning to advance public knowledge.”

With nine courses currently available, Kaplan plans to continue to increase the number of courses available on the OCW site during 2009. Kaplan University’s OCWC website is powered by EduCommons, an OpenCourseWare management system designed specifically to support OpenCourseWare projects.

“Kaplan’s contribution to the growing body of OpenCourseWare is significant,” said Stephen Carson, president of the OpenCourseWare Consortium. “Our goal is to build a collection of materials that meet a wide range of needs, and Kaplan’s materials address an important audience of lifelong learners the OpenCourseWare community is striving to serve.”

For more about the OCWC, go to www.ocwconsortium.org. For more information about Kaplan’s OCWC courses, go to http://ocw.kaplan.edu.

About Kaplan University

Kaplan University offers a different school of thought for higher education. It strives to help adult students unlock their untapped talent by providing a practical, student-centered education that prepares them for careers in some of the fastest-growing industries. Based in Davenport, Iowa, the University is regionally accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). Kaplan University offers more than 100 academic programs and currently serves more than 48,000 online and campus-based students. To learn more about Kaplan University, visit www.kaplan.edu.

Kaplan University is part of Kaplan Higher Education, which serves more than 100,000 students through 70-plus campus-based schools and online operations across the United States and abroad. It also has online programs through Kaplan Virtual Education and Concord Law School of Kaplan University. Kaplan Higher Education schools offer a spectrum of academic opportunities, from high school diplomas to graduate and professional degrees, including a juris doctor degree. Kaplan Higher Education is part of Kaplan, Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO). For more information, visit www.kaplan.com.

Mike came on board last fall as our Director of Community Outreach, and in nine short months has done a great deal to increase awareness of OCW and to support both current and potential OCWC members. We are very sorry to see Mike go, and we’re sure you will want to join us in thanking him for his work, his enthusiasm, and his fine company.

Best wishes, Mike!

http://www.slideshare.net/tag/ocwcglobal2009

http://www.slideshare.net/tag/ocwc

And for those of you who presented, but have not furnished slidesets, post them on Slideshare and tag them with the ocwcglobal2009 tag.

For those wishing to take part in the business meeting remotely, here is the dial-in info:

Dial-in number for Tuesday Business Meeting (see schedule for times):

Reservationless-Plus Toll Free Dial-In Number (US & Canada): (888) 830-8920
Reservationless-Plus International Dial-In Number:(770) 657-9185

Code: 510 267 9409

Finally, we encourage people not in Monterrey to join in the conversation around subjects by using the conference cloudscape and to browse our SlideShare site.

As we update our web presence throughout the day I’ll post more here.