How2 Start Ocw

April 8, 2023 Open Sharing, Global Benefits 1

Universities working together to advance education andempower people worldwide through opencourseware.

Open Sharing, Global Benefits

April 17, 2008 Terri Bays

How to Start and Run an OCW Project Director, Notre Dame OCW

At Your Institution Program Manager, OCW Consortium



170+ OCWC Institutions

Over 6,000 OCWCourses Online

~2,000,000 visitors/month



I. Making the OCW Case at Your Institution

II. Structuring Your OCW Team

III. Technologies for OCW

IV. OCW Curriculum and Content

V. Intellectual Property

VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions



Making the OCW Case at Your Institution

• University Culture

• Scope of the Project

• Benefits to Faculty, Students, Learners, University

• Existing Processes

• Pain Points



University Culture

• Mission alignment– MIT: Best serve nation and world– JHSPH: Improve global public health– Utah State: Land grant institution– Notre Dame: Catholic social mission– Michigan State: World-grant mission



Scope of Project

• Institution-wide

• Departmental

• Showcase

• Other models



Benefits to Faculty, Students, Learners, University

• Lifelong learning– Prospective students, current students, alumni

• A catalyst for academic improvement– Collaboration; organization; use of technology

• A tool for resource development and international engagement– Fundraising; faculty, department reputation; global

collaboration



Existing Processes

• Educational materials “lifecycle”

• IP management

• Faculty support teams

• Research and communication



Pain Points

• Stakeholder buy-in

• Faculty time

• Materials ownership

• Scarce resources








VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions



Structuring your OCW Team—Considerations

• Size and Structure of Institution• Institutional Culture• Flow of OCW Support• Existing E-learning Resources• Financial Resources• Financial Sustainability• Project Goals• Work Flow



Structuring your OCW Team—Sustainability

• Cost-Benefit Models– Reduce costs– Increase benefits

• Third-Party Funding Models– Foundations, Government– Sponsorships– Donations– Endowment

• Value-Added Models– Fees for goods and services– Membership



Examples—Considerations at Notre Dame

• Project Support from Provost’s Office, Faculty• Tension between Graduate and Undergraduate

Needs• Minimal Distance Education in Institution• In-Project Planning rather than Top-Down Direction• Start with Grant, Need to Develop Grass-Roots

Support • Goal Not to Publish Everything, but to Showcase

Strengths• Flexible Work Flow



Examples—OCW Structure at Notre Dame

• Project Director Hosted by Center for Teaching and Learning

– Strategic Recruitment of Faculty

– Training and Supervision of Course Production Assistants

– Resolution of Intellectual Property issues

– Technical Oversight of Project

– Outreach, Assessment and Development Efforts

– Coordination with other parts of the Campus Community

– Communication with Consortium and Broader OER Community.

• A Variety of Campus Professionals

– Intellectual Property Consultation with General Counsel’s Office

– Assessment via Office of Institutional Research

– University Librarians, Museum Curators, etc.



Examples—OCW Structure at Notre Dame

• Course Production Assistant (at Notre Dame this is usually a Graduate Student in the relevant discipline)

– No html skills necessary

– Focus on familiarity with the discipline, so as to best adapt/develop the strengths of the course to suit the online environment

– Basic intellectual property management

• Undergraduate Student Workers

– Routine clerical work (e.g., metadata entry)

– Photography, Videography

– Some coding and/or design work (e.g. flash module)

– Intellectual Property Training by Reference Librarian

• Work Flow sometimes too flexible, requires close monitoring



Examples—Considerations at Michigan State

• Faculty driven• Provost and Administrative support• Enhance value of online programs• No/low-cost, decentralized solution required• Strategic approach using the MSU Global product suite

model:



Examples—OCW Structure at Michigan State

• Facilitators– MSU Global– Libraries Computing and Technology– Office of Intellectual Property

• Internal Advisory Group

– Faculty– Program Leaders– Faculty Development Office– University Relations– Stakeholders



Examples—OCW Structure at Michigan State

• Make existing LMS materials open and findable– LCT Virtual University Design and Technology support faculty

to enable their ANGEL courses to be open– MSU Global staff make non-credit program content available– MSU Global staff maintain a catalog of OCW

• Make existing web materials open and findable– License, tag and catalog existing material

• Find solutions to co-create content– Wikieducator wikieducator.org/International_Finance– Wikiversity en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Trade_Finance



Examples—Considerations at MIT

• Initial commitment• First-mover funding advantage• Must succeed• Minimal faculty impact essential• Heterogeneous technology environment



Examples—OCW Structure at MIT

• Reports to provost• Big central organization• Outsourced data entry• Staff imbedded within departments• High touch, high-quality process



Structuring Your Own OCW Team —Considerations

• What is the Size and Structure of Your Institution?

• What Factors in Your Institutional Culture Might Contribute to OCW Production?

• In What Direction(s) does Your OCW Support Flow?

• What Are Your Existing E-learning Resources?• What are Your Financial Resources Now? In the

Future?• What Kind of Work Flow is Feasible in Your

Circumstances?








VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions



• Mixed economy

• Open source Learning Management System (LMS)

• Proprietary Learning Management System (LMS)

• Content Management Systems (CMS)

Overview of OCW technologies



• Interoperability and standards

• Audio/visual – an open approach?

• Web 2.0 - social networking, bookmarking, folksonomies, blogs, wikis

• Delivery – RSS, metadata, print

• Accessibility

Overview of OCW technologies - formats








VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions



Course Curriculum and Content• Factors to consider

– Intellectual Property: is there enough publishable content to make a ‘good course’?

– Does it showcase our institution’s ‘speciality’?– Does the course meet General Education needs?– Quality of content– Remove or replace 3rd party copyrighted materials?– What kinds of things would need to be localized?– How enable re-use, re-mix and re-publish?



Curriculum and Content—Notre Dame

• Quality of Content• Topical Coherence with Other Offerings• Compatibility of Course Methodology• Intellectual Property• Appeal to Users, Especially Prospective Students

and Alumni• Potential for Improving On-Campus Teaching • Potential for Expanding Range of Tools and

Methods



Curriculum and Content—Michigan State

• Strategic Product Suite Decision• MSU Quality• MSU Brand• Intended Use• Intended Community



• Structured Learning Units

• Portion of entire course

• Intellectual property

• New vs archived materials

• Interest to partners—e.g. BBC

• Introductory level to postgraduate

OCW curriculum and content - OpenLearn








VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions

FREE ≠ OPEN ≠ LIBRE



Intellectual Property—Wiley’s 4R’s

• Reuse– use the work verbatim, just exactly as you found it

• Rework– alter or transform the work so that it better meets your needs

• Remix– combine the (verbatim or altered) work with other works to

better meet your needs

• Redistribute– share the verbatim work, the reworked work, or the remixed

work with others



Intellectual Property—Choices

• Attribution• Commercial• Share Alike• How Usable?

– Re-use – Re-work (derivative works)– Re-mix (mixing licenses)– Re-distribute (mixing licenses)



Intellectual Property—The Basics

• IP Law varies from country to country, but it generally provides legal protection—over a stated period of time—for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Both published and unpublished works usually are protected.

• IP Law generally reserves to the creator of a work the right to authorize who may:– Create derivative works from the original work– Distribute originals or copies of the work, or– Publicly display or perform the work.

• Once the stated period of time is over, the work enters the “public domain.”



Intellectual Property—The Basics

• IP Law and OCW—Creative Commons License– Attribution– (Non-Commercial)– Share-Alike

• Intellectual Property Rights must be determined before they can be shared

• Relative Values of Licensing Consistency and Content Richness

• Very Limited Fair Use Coverage—Murkiness of the Law



Intellectual Property—Getting to Know Your General Counsel• Develop a License Request You Both Can Live With

• Determine Your Institution’s Attitude Toward IP Ownership of Faculty Course Materials

• Determine How Much IP Adventure Your Institution Can Bear

• Establish a Good Faith Relationship

• Understand that Fair Use Determinations Generally are Handled on a Case-By-Case Basis:

– Seek and Document Advice Before Embarking on a Fair Use Argument. The documentation establishes your “good-faith effort” not to infringe.

– (at least in the US) A License Request does not undermine a fair use argument



Intellectual Property—Navigation

• Documentary Tools:– Standard Object License Request– Database and/or spreadsheet for tracking all objects and their status

• Other Licenses:– Participant License for Instructors, Students– Work-For-Hire License for OCW Employees

• Clear chain of responsibility for IP Management








VI. OCW Assessment

VII. Questions



Assessment—Evaluation and Communication

• Why evaluate?– Business decision– Funders and stakeholders– Evaluation vs. research

• Communicating is essential



Assessment—Evaluation and Communication—Considerations

• Whose buy-in is essential?• How are you funded?• What resources are available for evaluation and

communication?



Assessment—Evaluation

• Develop a plan– Keep it simple: Access, Use, Impact– Hook into other evaluation on campus– Make the effort for qualitative data

• Keep the resources on it



Assessment—Communication

• Identify key stakeholders

• Develop key communication documents

• Develop communications schedule

• Stories are important



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