National strategies are needed to mainstream open educational resources (OER) in institutions. While many promising OER initiatives exist, few countries have adequate national strategies. For open universities, adopting a "split-component" course model where some materials are openly licensed as OER while other services have fees could help with sustainability. The Netherlands' €8 million national Wikiwijs program from 2009-2013 aimed to mainstream OER across all education sectors. National strategies are a wise investment that can improve quality through collaborative content development while increasing access and lowering costs through free online materials. Open universities exploring business models where some learning opportunities and services have fees while maintaining OER could fulfill responsibilities for education quality, access, and efficiency.

1. Towards National Strategiesfor OER? The Dutch landscapeFred de Vries & Fred MulderEADL conferenceKeep the Wheels turning26 May 2011, Vienna, Austria

2. UNESCO OER Chair at OUNLOverall Development Goal …... to underpin and give guidance to the exploration, introduction, implementation and exploitation of OER,... in the full spectrum of education (from primary to higher education; from formal to informal learning),... in a variety of societies (developed, emerging, and developing economies; with the cultural diversity manifest around the globe),... at the national (or regional) level

3. UNESCO OER Chair at OUNLFocus on Research and Explorative Studies inOER strategies, implementation and impactNetwork of 11 OU’s: China/Shanghai, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ecuador, Canada/Athabasca, UK, Spain/Barcelona, PortugalNetwork with international organizations:OCW Consortium, COL, EADTU, ACDE, AAOU, ICDE, UNESCO

4. “As institutions and as individuals,we seem to have forgottenthe core values of education:sharing, giving, and generosity.”David Wiley (2010)‘The Open Future: Openness as Catalystfor an Educational Reformation’EDUCAUSE Review, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 14-20

5. Institutional and NationalStrategiesManypromisinginstitutionalOER initiativesaround the globeFew adequate national OER strategiesProblematic OER propositionforOpen UniversitiesOER SustainabilityStruggle

6. OER sustainabilitystruggleTwo ways forward:1 National OER strategies are conditional for mainstreaming OER in the institutionsFor OUs a ‘minor’ rethinking of the course model is required to get them in a better position

7. The fundamental OU model:6-fold classical OpennessOpen AccessFreedom of TimeFreedom of PaceFreedom of PlaceOpen ProgrammingOpen to People (LLL)Opennessnot as a doctrinebut as a carrying concept

8. OU BrandLifelong Open and Flexible (LOF) learning(since EADTU Conference 2004), instead of:Open and Distance Learning (ODL)---------------Supported Open LearningTutored Self-Study---------------Carried by high-quality learning materialsdeveloped for independent learningintegrated with didactics and tutoring elements

9. OUstypically have a 4-fold DigitalOpennessFamily regarding free online availability:Open Source(software)Open Access(scientific output)Open Content(creative output)Open Educational Resources (OER)(learning materials)

10. Introducing a 5thDigitalOpennessOpen Learning Services (OLS),free or fora fee,andincluding a variety ofonline andvirtual facilitiesfor:tutoring, advice, meetings, communities, teamwork, presentations, testing, examination, consulting sources,internet navigation, etcetera---------------------------------------------------------OER + OLS = Open Education

11. All-inclusive course modelExample: OpenERAward Opencourseware Excellence 2011

12. Split-component course model

13. Sustainability Message #1 …Taking a down-to-earth view on OUseducational model as comparedtothe model of the conventionaluniversitiesbringsOER sustainabilitymuchbetterwithinreachfor the OUs …… indeed they are put in a more equalpositioniftheyundertakea non-fundamentalandfeasible change of the course model from‘all-inclusive’to‘split-component’

14. Emerging National Strategies2007–..... / India (total budget???)NKC / Report to the Nation 2007:Embracing OERLaunch of a ‘National E-content and Curriculum Initiative’Major effort with a large variety of follow-up activities and projects2009–2013 / The Netherlands (€ 8,0 million) National Wikiwijs Program (OUNL & Kennisnet leading)Mainstreaming OER in all educational sectors2011–2014 / USA ($ 2,0 billion) US Dept. of Labor and Dept. of Education will run a 4-year program to create OER for community colleges and career training. CC BY licence required for grant outputs

15. Knowledge is a public good!ICDE OER Task Force (2008), conclusion nr. 6in Report:‘A Golden Combi?! – OER and Open, Flexible and Distance Learning’Cape Town Declaration (2007)“Governments, school boards, colleges and universities should make open education a high priority. Ideally, taxpayer-funded educational resources should be OER. (…) These strategies (…) constitute a wise investment in teaching and learning for the 21st century.”Hal Plotkin (2010), in ‘Free to Learn (…)’:“OER offer higher education governance leaders a cost-efficient method of improving thequality of teaching and learning while at the same timereducing costs imposed on students related to the purchase of expensive commercial textbooks and learning materials.”

16. John Daniel’s Iron TriangleThe three sides of his Iron Triangle are:Access / Quality / Costof HigherEducationICTcantransform the Iron Triangleinto a FlexibleTriangle:wider access / higherquality / lowercostof HigherEducation, at the sametime

17. HE performance in 3 Dimensions(unaltered circumstances / conditions)‘starting ‘increased ‘higher situation’ efficiency’ quality’

18. HypothesisPerformanceimprovementalong one dimensioninevitably deterioratesthe performance alongone of both or bothother dimensions, at least atunalteredcircumstances and conditions

19. HE performance in 3 Dimensions(after an OER system intervention)‘starting ‘OER situation’ situation’

20. The OER System Intervention …… facilitatesperformance improvementalongallthreedimensionssimultaneously:1 Qualitybyinvolvement of many expertsand users in variousrolesAccessibilityby free online availabilityof learningmaterialsEfficiencybynotreplicatingother’s efforts… andaddsan extra dimension: 4 Innovation

21. Sustainability Message #2 …Mainstreaming OERthrough a nationalstrategy does notincrease the macro budget,onlyrequires a limitedbudget reallocation …… bywhichGovernments are in a betterpositiontofulfiltheir overall threefoldresponsibilityfor thequality, accessibilityandefficiency of education… andcanembracetheirresponsibilityfor a sustainable systemworkingwithOER

22. Exploring new businessmodel at OUNLCreating a new business model forourinstitute in which OER plays a rol www.openu.nlVariouslearningopportunitiesPersonal Digital environmentSocialnetworkInformation about field of interestConnect: Research – Innovation- Education

23. OpenU model

24. Thanks for your attention!fred.devries@ou.nlhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/freddevrieshttp://oer.unescochair-ou.nl/www.openu.nl