OERu/Getting started with OERu/Introducing OERu distinctively open

OERu website

The OERu is distinctively open and this is a key point of difference of our innovation partnership:

• The OERu promotes the development, use and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and assembles courses from Open Access materials and Open Textbooks.
• The OERu course resources and support materials use open Creative Commons licenses.
• The technology infrastructure of the OERu is based entirely on open source software.
• The OERu adopts Open Educational Practices (OEP) in the design and development of our courses.
• The OERu exemplifies open planning practices.

Open planning practices at the OERu

Since the inaugural OERu meeting where the concept of our innovation partnership was first proposed in February 2011, we have streamed all partner meetings live on the Internet with opportunities for remote participants to engage and contribute to the planning process. We have a public record of all the OERu international meetings including video recordings of the plenary sessions which serve as the detailed minutes of our discussions and decisions. The OERu Strategic Plan 2015 - 2017 was developed using an open consultation process in the WikiEducator. The meetings of the OERu Management Committee are also broadcast live. Agendas and minutes of all the OERu working group meetings are developed and published transparently in WikiEducator.

These open planning practices are a distinctive feature of the OERu. It is important for participants in the OERu working groups and community volunteers to familiarise themselves with our open planning approach and the technologies we use to support this transparent practice. In this GSwOERu induction course we will show how you can engage effectively in shaping OERu futures.

Activity

Visit the record of previous OERu meetings and spend five to ten minutes exploring a few links. In particular visit the links to the record of meetings which are hosted on WikiEducator and click through to one or more of the video recordings.

The purpose of this activity is to get a sense of the public history of the OERu and how we implement open planning practices in the real world. Please share your thoughts and reflections by posting on WENotes, Twitter, groups.oeru.org or community.oeru.org. If you are using Twitter, remember to add "#GSwOERu" Consider these microblog posts as catalysts for generating ideas to share with the #OERu community:

• Open planning means ... #GSwOERu
• Plus of open planning: ... #GSwOERu
• Minus of open planning: ... #GSwOERu
• I didn't realise that ... #GSwOERu

The OERu open planning practices generate competitive advantage for our network of universities, colleges and polytechnics, which aim to widen access to more affordable education for all.