The document discusses open education at Empire State College. It defines open education as being flexible to meet learner needs through various paths, modes of assessment and learning. While some practices called "open" may not fit ESC, the college's approach is rooted in its founding principles of an accessible, student-centered and community-based model. The document provides examples of current open projects and initiatives at the college and argues that embracing open education strengthens what the college already does well.

1. Open Education at
Empire State College
R. J. Clougherty, Jr.
Acting Vice Provost
#vfac2012

2. My Purpose
• The confusion of what open means is not unique to ESC, it
is an issue across the profession.
– Increasing usage
– Definition scrubbing OPEN
• The answer is simple:
– Everything about ESC is Open, but
ESC
– Not all that is called open is ESC,
– nor should it be.
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3. Where Does ESC as Open Come from?
A Prospectus for a New University College
“In using the available educational resources within the State
and elsewhere in various combinations, depending on student
need and motivation, to achieve an open process of learning,
this new educational process will exact responsibility from
students in return for freedom.”
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4. Boyer‟s Definition of Open is at our Core
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5. So How Do We Practice Open Education?
We return to our roots and solidify, strengthen, and publicize
what we do better than anyone:
• Mentoring
• Prior Learning Assessment
• Educational Planning
• Interdisciplinary Learning
• Determining modes of learning based on Learner needs.
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6. We Are the University of the Future
• World Economic Forum, past June 2012, defining the
university of the future.
• Interdisciplinarity is the future of Higher Education—
(Holden Thorp, Engines of Innovation: The
Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century)
• Carnegie Foundation‟s concept of “practical Reason” is
based on the use of a narrative Learning Contract
(Sullivan and Rosin, A New Agenda for Higher Education)
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7. Recognition of What We Do
• Cracking the Credit Hour September 2012: Includes
Empire State College as one of six “Innovations and
Institutions We Can Learn From.”
• Change Magazine October 2011: Empire State College “is
an excellent example of unbundling of services and
specialization that innovative theorist Clayton Christensen
describes as an aspect of the future of „disruptive
innovation‟ in higher education.”
• Lumina Foundation
• Gates Foundation
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8. What About the Rest of Open?
• Not all open fits us; however,
• Those who would like to have an opportunity to explore
new areas have a direction and can do so within the Boyer
definition of scholarship,
• More importantly, what we do fits into concepts of open for
both recognition and support.
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9. So What Does Open Mean?
• Open Education is a recognition that there are multiple
paths, modes, and means of assessment for learning.
• Open is not a set means or a set practice, it is about being
flexible to meet the needs of the learner.
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10. Open as we define it….
• Open Education is:
– accessible
– student-centered
– community based
• Open Assets and Resources are:
– revisable
– remixable
– redistributable
• We are and we encourage being:
– adaptive
– innovative
– collaborative
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11. What Open is Not
• Digital Only—Open does not mean online alone—it means
a variety of modalities
• Free—while many open resources are free it is not a
requirement as seen in the existence of open universities
• That Open Universities all practice Open Access
• Expensive
• Time consuming—It is about sharing as much as doing
• Inaccurate
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12. Current Projects
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13. A Sample Range of Projects Across the
College
• Citizen Science (Nikki Shrimpton, CNY)
• PLA and Women of Color (Frances Boyce, LIC, and Cathy
Leaker, Metro)
• Public History Certificate (Anastasia Pratt, NEC)
• New America Project (John Beckem, CDL)
• Virtual Teaching Incubator (Donna Mahar, GRAD)
• NSF Grant for Peer Mentoring (Phil Ortiz, CDL)
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14. Sample of Institutional Level Open Projects
• Lumina Grant--PLA
• TAA Grant--PLA
• SUNY Strategic Funds for SUNY Complete—Support
Stop-outs Across the System
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15. How Does Open Affect Me?
• Creates new resources for you to use in mentoring students
– You can refer them to OERs as well as tutors
– Help our students reduce their cost and their time to degree
• Creates new opportunities for the college to grow and hire
more faculty
– Recognition for the work we do
• Creates new opportunities for innovation for those who
want to pursue them
• Strengthen what we do, and continue to do it well
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16. Where to from Here?
• A return to our roots is the path into becoming a 21st
century college.
• Peter Abelard and the founding of the University
• Eric Steven Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar
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17. What is Open?
• We are;
• We are the pioneers;
• We are the cool kids
• The world has caught up with us in its appreciation of
what we do…
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18. Further Questions or Comments
Feel Free to Contact:
Robert Clougherty
Acting Vice Provost for Research,
Innovation, and Open Education
Robert.clougherty@esc.edu
@VPRIOE
http://openinnovativeandagile.blogspot.com/
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