Background to the proposal and previous information

Introduction

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Academy and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) are collaborating to deliver an Open Educational Resources Programme call for projects: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2008/12/grant1408.aspx

The goal of the programme is to make a wide range of learning resources freely available and easily discoverable so that they may be routinely re-used by both educators and learners. A very short summary of this call for pilot projects is attached below. HE institutions are entitled to lead on up to one 'institutional' and one 'individual' project, and partner in as many bids led by others as they wish. You may be interested to inquire locally if your institution is bidding under one of these strands. A very short summary of the call for projects (taken from the documentation on the website) is included below. Institutions are entitled to lead on up to one institutional and one individual project (and partner bids led by others).

The MEDEV Subject Centre is eligible to coordinate a response to the call under the Open Educational Resources Subject Strand (projects up to 250K each; 3M available overall). All UK institutions are eligible under the Subject Strand. From initial soundings with members of our constituency we think that there is enough interest that we will submit a proposal. As these are pilot projects the content of this proposal should be fairly straightforward but we would, of course, appreciate input to/feedback on the bid. It is planned to engage with professional bodies, subject associations and other relevant organisations as part of the project. We also hope to work with Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre (assuming we are successful). The closing date is 4 March 2009.

There are two main issues with this call. Firstly, participants contributing content have to make it freely available for use and re-use. Secondly the funding is only 50% of the total cost, the balance coming from 'matched funding'. If you feel that this call is not for you then we anticipate that there will be opportunities in the future to join/participate if this pilot is successful. We expect that 'partnership' will be at two levels - those who are directly commissioned by the project to undertake aspects of the work in this pilot (a 'core team'), and a wider group interested in sharing educational resources.

The closing date is 4 March 2009.

Expressions of interest in joining the project

If you wish to be named as a partner at this pilot stage then we will need a contact name (job title and email address) for your institution, and a letter of support. If you wish to acknowledge the proposal but not to engage with it then we would still greatly appreciate a letter.

For your information and convenience I have attached here THREE SAMPLE LETTERS OF SUPPORT (MEDEV_Letter_of_Support_Draft.doc), one indicating that you wish to partner/support the proposal, one acknowledging the proposal but not entering as a partner at this stage, the final letter acknowledging the proposal (but not offering support). I would appreciate it, if you wish to respond, you could adapt/print which ever letter is most appropriate onto your letter head paper, sign and fax to 0191 2225016 or email a PDF version to enquiries@medev.ac.uk by Sunday 1 March 2009.

We would also be delighted to hear of any institutional or individual project proposals involving our constituency whom we might reference in our response.

If you wish to discuss this call for projects, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with either Suzanne Hardy (suzanne@medev.ac.uk), or Megan Quentin-Baxter (megan@medev.ac.uk) or telephone the office on 0191 222 5888.

The following institutions have already expressed interest:

• Imperial College, London (Medicine)
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Medicine)
• Keele University (Medicine)
• Newcastle University (Medicine)
• Queen's University Belfast (Medicine)
• The Royal Veterinary College (Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Care Professions)
• St George's University, London (Medicine)
• University of Aberdeen (Medicine)
• University of Edinburgh (Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine)
• University of Leeds (on behalf of the ALPS CETL) (Medicine, Dentistry and Allied Health Professions)
• University of Nottingham (Medicine)
• University of Oxford (Medicine)
• University of Southampton (Medicine)
• University of Warwick (Medicine)

Bid development meeting: 16 February 2009, 11am-3pm

There will be a meeting at the Subject Centre (address and directions www.medev.uk/about) on 16 February 2009 for interested parties. This will provide a chance to shape the content of the bid and influence the direction of travel. All UK HEIs with programmes of medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine are invited. Please let us know by email if you would like to attend (enquiries@medev.ac.uk with the subject OER meeting).

The meeting will run 11am - 3pm and lunch will be provided.

We welcome attendees in person (unfortunately we cannot cover the cost of travel), or by JVCS approved video conference sites. Please let us know if you would like to videconference into the meeting (please provide your JVCS conference details) at the same email address. There will be VC points in at least London and Newcastle.

Format of meeting

• Update/brainstorming on the development of the proposal so far
• Explore issues and limitations
• Establishing roles for partners
• Action planning

There will be a skeleton bid document available to look at on the day, drafted from conversations we have had with prospective partners so far, and from information we have received from the Higher Education Academy and the JISC.

We very much look forward to your input in shaping this bid.

We have put together a private WIKI with discussion functionality to encourage input from as many people as possible. Please email either Suzanne Hardy (suzanne@medev.ac.uk), or Megan Quentin-Baxter (megan@medev.ac.uk) for an invitation to join.

Summary of the call

Also available as a Word Document (doc).

HEFCE/Academy/JISC Grant Funding 14/08 HEFCE/Academy/JISC Open Educational Resources Programme: Call for Projects

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.

Open Educational Resources - Institutional Strand:

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)

Open Educational Resources - Individual Strand:

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)

Open Educational Resources- Subject Strand:

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.