This is a pilot programme which is being funded in order to inform the design of future work in this domain. Specifically, the outcomes of this work will be used in proposing a larger long term Open Educational Resources programme to funding bodies.
There are several main reasons for promoting open learning:
To encourage the sharing of learning resources between institutions, between academics and within communities of practice;
To enable learning materials and resources can be shared universally - locally, nationally and globally to support learning;
To encourage development and uptake of tools and processes supporting the release of open resources that will enhance both productivity and relevance by being customisable and adaptable by both academics and students;
To act as a marketing tool where students can view resources produced by an institution prior to applying to study there.
The potential benefits of the open release of learning resources by UK higher education institutions are seen as follows:
An increase in student satisfaction concerning the quality of learning materials;
An enhancement of the global academic reputation of the UK HE system;
An increase in applications to UK HEI courses from international, and non-traditional, learners;
Improved value for money in resource creation for the UK HE sector;
UK higher education's contribution to the public good and the developing world;
A significant increase in the open availability and use of free high quality online resources;
Advertising and marketing benefits to individual lecturers, HEIs and UK education, opening up universities to potential students (e.g. widen access; promote the uptake of science subjects),;
Making use of the significant investment that has already been made in digital content by providing ways to reuse and repurpose existing resources and to demonstrate how they can be used for teaching and learning;
Support for new modes of online learning, such as those that involve the use of web 2.0 tools.
Projects will work to openly (free for use and repurposing) release their existing learning resources. Resources may include - but will not be limited to - course materials, reading lists, student generated content, images and other multimedia, learning objects, electronic learning activities, and recordings and supporting materials from lectures, workshops, and presentations. It is expected that projects will release at least the equivalent of one undergraduate course (360 credits). Please refer to sections 40 - 46 for further details.
£1.50m (up to £250k per project)
Projects will involve the release of high quality educational resources, developed by individual staff, to support at least the equivalent 30 credits. Resources that may be included is described in the institutional strand above. Please refer to sections 35 - 39 for further detail.
£200k (up to £20k per project)
Projects will encompass a consortium led by an Academy Subject Centre and including at least one Professional Body, or national subject association, and several Institutional subject faculties, departments, or schools working in one or more of the relevant subject areas. Resources that may be included is described in the institutional strand above. Please refer to sections 47 - 54 for further detail.
£3m (up to £250k per project)
It is essential that successful bids will also be supported by the institutions involved in them, to a total value at least equal to the funding offered by JISC and the Academy. We note that the type of support offered by institutions will differ for each strand of projects.
The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12:00 noon on 4 March 2009.