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Call for interest – an OER for training teacher trainers with ICDE

ICDE invites expressions of interest for producing courseware in the form of an open educational resource for training teacher trainers in high quality open, distance and online learning. The target group for this call is an institution or consortium of actors/ institutions. The initial focus of the project is Africa.

The process and grant

An expression of interest (EoI) is a non-binding expression indicating intent to bid. Based on EoIs received (step 1), ICDE will invite a smaller selection of applicants to deliver a bid in the form of a project proposal (step 2). One successful bidder will be invited to enter into a contract with ICDE. The value of the grant is USD 8,500.

Eligibility

To be an eligible applicant, the applicant must be an ICDE member, or if the applicant is a consortium, the consortium coordinator must be an ICDE member. Non ICDE members can participate on equal footing in the consortium and in the design and implementation of the project.

The Expression of Interest (EoI)

The EoI should:

Declare an interest in making a project proposal
Provide contact details
In a few sentences, describe the possible project partners
On one page, describe how the applicant foresees to solve the task and describe the deliverables foreseen from the project
Indicate a timeline for the project
In total, not be longer than three pages
Deadline

The expression of interest – step one of a two-step process – must be submitted to the ICDE Secretariat, icde@icde.org by Friday 31 May 2013.

Enquiries

Enquiries should be addressed to Gard Titlestad, Secretary General, ICDE and should be sent to: icde@icde.org

Background – the project idea

With reference to the increased demand globally for faculty training in quality distance and online learning and the need for teachers able to practice online learning, the purpose is to enhance quality in open, distance and online learning through open courseware in open, distance and online learning, at the higher education level. The specific focus should be described by the applicants.

Open, distance and online learning is rapidly expanding in universities and colleges in Africa and Asia, but faculty training has not caught up with the speed of development. According to the African Union Commission, the number of new teachers required in Africa by the year 2015 is estimated to be 3.6 million.

Online training of teachers using OERs will facilitate mass training of teacher trainers, which again will facilitate trained teachers in filling the huge gap in demand for teachers in Africa. By using OERs, courseware can be adapted to different cultures and languages.

The quality issue will be crucial for the project, both with regards to the quality of the OERs and to the quality in using the courseware in teaching faculty and teacher trainers.

The project will address the need for flexible, open and robust training programmes that will train faculty and teachers on the design, development and implementation of open, distance and online learning and ultimately contribute to the enhancement of the quality of open, distance and online learning in Africa and Asia.

Objective: Develop a high quality OER as open online courseware for training teachers/ faculty in open and distance/ online learning, before mid-2014.

Target group for the project result: Teacher trainers.

Focus and priority areas: The OER/ courseware should focus on the needs of teacher trainers to deliver high quality faculty training in open and distance/ online learning. The first regional area of priority should be Africa. A regional focus on Asia will be considered when the project has delivered.

Budget: ICDE has determined that a grant of USD 8,500 in the form of seed money for the project will be made. ICDE welcomes project proposals that include additional resources and include possible sponsors.

Organization and ownership

The project owner is the ICDE Executive Committee. Ownership of the project will be shared through partnership with other stakeholders. The responsible body on behalf of the owners is the ICDE Secretariat. The consortium/ institution that wins the contract will be responsible for the project. The project organization should ensure the African focus and interest, and should also include a wider group of interested stakeholders. The project result (the OER, the open courseware) should be licensed under a Creative Commons license. The consortium/ institution that wins the contract has the ownership of the project result.

The experience with the development and dissemination of OER suggests that institutional buy-in and ownership should be created from the beginning and that the process of developing and using the OER should be connected to an institution or a consortium of training institutions which are committed to the development and utilization of the OER.

Stakeholders consulted: The following have been consulted on the project idea in addition to the ICDE Executive Committee members:

African Council for Open and Distance Education (ACDE)
Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU)
China Open University
Open University of Netherlands
The African Virtual University
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)
The OpenCourseWare Consortium
The Sloan Consortium
UNESCO
All consulted stakeholders were very positive to the idea and initiative and are interested in partnering up with ICDE in the initiative. Many of the stakeholders have given input to the project idea and are interested in participating in the design and implementation of the project. The consultation material will be made available for those that deliver an EoI.