Carmen Fields reports on differing opinions of the African American studies program at Harvard University. Fields interviews Harvard professors Harvey Mansfield and Orlando Patterson. Mansfield says that conservative scholars are excluded from the African American studies program at Harvard. Mansfield adds that the program is too political and not concerned enough with the study of the African American experience. Mansfield calls African American studies an 'advocacy major' which promotes a certain point of view. Patterson notes that many academic departments are too political. He adds that history departments often teach history from only one perspective. Patterson says that African American studies offers an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of one area of life. Patterson discusses his concerns over the lack of African American scholars entering academia. Fields's report is accompanied by footage of the Harvard campus and footage of students in a class taught by Derrick Bell (Professor, Harvard Law School).

Amee Godwin's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, she writes about OER as an active collaborative process aimed at enhancing teaching and learning.

Andy Lane's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, he describes Open Learning and Open Educational Resources activities and projects at The UK Open University. He asks some critical questions about what it means to talk about Open Teaching (whether using OERs or not) and how might that teaching be organized so that it is supportive of informal and/or formal learning.

A panel of students addresses an audience of faculty members, students and other at Tufts University. A student speaks about the university's policy on divestiture from South Africa. The student calls on the Board of Trustees to divest completely from South Africa. Another student talks about the protesters' efforts to contact and negotiate with the university administration and Board of Trustees. A group of students hold a small meeting at a shantytown set up on the Tufts University campus. A large banner reads, 'Divest now.' Protesters talks about their efforts to communicate with the university administration and Board of Trustees on the issue of divestment from South Africa. The protesters accuse Jean Mayer (President, Tufts University) of not cooperating with the students. One protester promises radical action on campus if the university does not divest. The protesters say that the Board of Trustees is ducking the issue. They accuse the Board of ignoring the voices of students and faculty. The tape features shots of the shantytown on the Tufts campus.

Higher learning organizations frequently offer courses isolated from other disciplines or areas of concentration. The intent of this study was to explore collaboration practices on authentic based projects involving two distinct courses from differing programs: Instructional Technology and Educational Leadership. This paper describes the strategies of designing effective learning environments for multidisciplinary collaboration and problem-based learning and reports the effectiveness of those strategies. The result of the collaboration was the production of various multimedia interactive professional development training materials developed by the technology students on various topics proposed by the school administrators. The collaborative learning practices provided the opportunity to not only give and receive knowledge among the participants but also view this exchange as a responsibility to create a collaborative culture within the university.

Fest 2011 in Half Moon Bay. This conference was help in December 2011 and hosted by the Institute of Knowledge Management in Education. There were participants form K-12, Higher Ed, educational non-profits, foundations and start-up companies. The keynote speaker was Dr. Sugata Mitra.

Christy George reports on the end of a two-week fast by chaplains at Brandeis University. George notes that the chaplains fasted to protest the university's investments in South Africa. George's report includes footage from a gathering of apartheid protesters on the Brandeis campus. Father Maurice Loiselle, Rabbi Albert Axelrad and Reverend Diane Moore discuss their fast and the university's policy regarding South Africa. The protesters sing and hold hands at the gathering. George reports that the chaplains' fast serves as the last phase of a community protest against apartheid. George notes that Brandeis trustees will review their investment policy at an upcoming meeting. George reviews the apartheid protest at Brandeis University since last year. George's report includes footage of Brandeis students at a shantytown on campus.

A presentation covering the development of an evaluation framework for transforming teaching materials into OERs.

Delivered at the OER 10 Conference

Christine Geith's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, she writes about how OER may be shaping the future of a new type of university.

Cole Camplese's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, he looks at how the Web is finally starting to fulfill its promise as a platform to support and extend conversations.

With the increasing cost of a college education on the rise, college administrators need to address the long term financial, psychological, and academic risks associated with the increased responsibility of personal debt. In this qualitative study, college students’ perspectives regarding the need for a personal financial management center at a regional public institution of higher education in the Southwest were obtained. Themes that emerged from participants’ responses were: (a) the need and desire to understand personal budgeting, (b) learning about personal financial management to obtain a sense of independence, and (c) developing personal responsibility as it relates to controlling need versus want purchasing habits. Implications of our findings are discussed.

This program contains resources for educators on copyright laws in South Africa particularly educators in higher education This program is intended to assist educators in their awareness of copyright laws Included in the program is a copyright timeline as well as an infographic There is also a guide which discusses the implications for both copyright holder and user and the use of copyrighted materials in an educational setting Lastly it advises on where to obtain copyright permissions and provides some tips for good practice This is a work in progress and I will updating this resource regularly Please note that to view this resource you will need to have the latest version of Shockwave player installed

A workflow model for creating teaching materials & OERs developed by the CORRE team at the University of Leicester

A Framework for transforming teaching materials into OERS developed by the CORRE team at the University of Leicester

Derek Keats' contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, he writes about about how the products and processes of Digital Freedom, such as personal learning environments, recognition of learning achieved, and collaborative cross-institutional virtual classrooms, have the potential to create new opportunities for education.

This resource provides the entirety of the Diversity Literacy course content. A 2nd-year level course, offered at UCT as part of the Vice Chancellors strategic planning, Diversity Literacy aims to facilitate a process of conscientisation amongst students from all disciplinary backgrounds. Users will find all materials required to run the course syllabus, powerpoint presentations, assignments, assessment guides, useful links, and discussion guides. Also included is a comprehensive overview which provides users with the rational behind the course, along with a discussion of how to use the included resources.

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate students of a selected state university in Texas attending the Multi Institutional Teaching Center (MITC)/The University Center (TUC) or the main campus regarding the effectiveness of student services. As universities face limited resources and fierce competition, administrators are forced to respond to the changing environment by expanding their campus borders. As they expand, these institutions of higher education are expected to sustain their effectiveness in providing student services to survive the threats. This reality made this study significant and timely. The study examined five research questions which compared the perceptions of students attending the MITC/TUC to the perceptions of students on the main campus. The student services under study were admissions, advising, financial aid, and registration. The methodology, findings, and implications of this study can help to increase the knowledge of campus administrators and can assist them in making data-driven decisions where institutions of higher education look to expand their borders beyond their campuses.

Online teaching and learning in higher education is growing at an exponential rate! This growth will continue to escalate during the 21st century! The powerful tools of technology will deliver instruction in unprecedented ways. Yet, the tools of technology are only as effective as the masters of this craft. Those using technology to teach online in increasing numbers are educational leadership adjunct professors. In some cases, universities adjunct faculty members comprise 100% of their entire faculty (Babb & Mirabella, 2007). Clearly, the time has come for online universities to provide mentoring that assures the success of their greatest teaching force, its adjunct faculty. The authors present the four most research based needs entitled the four cornerstones comprising an effective mentoring program for educational leadership adjuncts. The four cornerstones of effective mentoring programs for adjuncts teaching online are professional development, effective communication, building balance, and forming relationships.

Gary Schwartz's contribution to the OSS and OER in Education Series. In this post, he writes from the perspective of an open source project manager.