21.1 Educational development at otago polytechnic  (Page 13/13)

What I’m trying to say here, is that it’s important to keep priming the pump….keep people energized, caring and involved…and feel that they’ve made the right decision….Here’s an example: Do you know that in the spring, the US car companies put on a big push to sell cars….yet, in the fall, there are more car commercials than ever? The reason is, is that the car companies want to make sure that the people who buy their cars are actually happy with their purchase. They know, that the average person buys 5-7 cars during their lifetime…which means big bucks to them…when you leave one car company for another, you’re likely NEVER to come back….so these car companies put a lot of effort into making sure you’re happy with your purchase…and being reminded of the worthiness of YOUR DECISION is an essential ingredient in the mix!

- Randy Fisher aka Wikirandy

11. wikirandy - december 10th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Hi Leigh, An estimate of the amount of money is important, yes. It’s important also to keep a running tally of the Total Lifecycle Cost of doing one thing over another…This is a great way to ‘reframe’ a discussion, into the parameters that executives are measured…(i.e., how much money did you save us, or make us, AND variations on the theme.

Regarding your comments on “the benefits of enabling copy and re-use with attribution” – if there is some way that you can quantify this in terms of monetary savings or gains, that is helpful. Then, also note the other benefits, such as increased institutional flexibility, educator skilling, scheduling freedom, etc.

Regarding the ‘readiness’ of such a policy, it would be useful to dig into what ‘readiness’ actually means to the decision-makers. What I’m getting at here, is if they are provided with supporting data – particularly in terms of how much MONEY they can make or save, this has a very strong hand in moving along “readiness” even accelerating it. Throw in the other “benefits”, and trusted people – yep, that’s you Leigh and your visionary, yet grounded colleagues – to get it underway – and it’s a done deal!

- Randy Fisher aka Wikirandy

12. ken udas - december 11th, 2007 at 5:46 am

Hello, I have a more or less general question, perhaps too broad, but open to anybody who has thoughts, based in practice or otherwise. It seems that the effort at the Otago Polytechnic is focused on use, reuse, and sharing. This is a bit different than a lot of other OER efforts that seem more focused on publishing free content for others to use. First, is this observation accurate, and if so, how do you see organizational policy developing that promotes faculty using open content generated or modified by others in addition to faculty developing and sharing content intended for the use of others?

Cheers, Ken

13. leigh blackall - december 11th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Hi Ken, you are right! Well seen. I have been critical of the likes of MIT Open Courseware as in fact not being open. Restrictions like Non Commercial, and even development processes not being open say to me that they are not open courseware but simply free courseware. I even think that sooner than later they will simply be courseware, when all this copyright fog finally lifts from education and the idea of common good…

Yes, Otago is focused on open educational resources AND practices which covers the three areas you site, and the same three areas of freedom defined in OER and software. So, here there is a big emphasis on staff development and building informal but professional support networks and communities of practice. Anyone that looks at our work on Wikieducator will see that it is very much a work in progress and always will be. It is not the most important aspect to us. It is developing the capacity and culture in our staff that is arguably the most important.

Randy, to answer your question regarding how we keep the feedback loop alive with the bosses. It seems that the attention from outside is what keeps that happening. Every time the Commonwealth of Learning publish a report about our work, or Penn State, or the local paper, or the Student’s Association.. that reaches the bosses here. At the same time we keep them informed via the traditional communication channels that are in place.. but increasingly we are using the newer communication channels and there is the potential for a communication disconnect that I mention in the article. Again, it comes down to developing better communication skills with staff, so it may mean our bosses have to join in on the staff development activities or risk the disconnection, or pull it back.. its a potentially large problem. At the moment, the outside interest is helping. It also helps to have outsiders interview and then report on our work. It offers a fresh perspective and critical feedback that we need. Especially for us being so regional, even in our own country.

14. rakhi - december 18th, 2008 at 3:57 am

You can also try another issue tracking software, it is open source off-the-shelf application called Eventum.

Eventum is written in PHP programming language and uses MySQL database and is available under GPL and developed by MySQL AB Team. Know about eventum features and advantages; just visit our website:

(External Link)

(External Link)