E-learn Weblog of Willem van Valkenburg

Yesterday we finalised the project proposal for the OCW4STEM project. Together with my collegue Michel Beerens (expert in writting grant proposals) we have crafted 392 pages and a very big excel sheet with the budget.

The proposal is for the EU Erasmus Life Long Learning programme as an Academic Network grant. Now we have to keep our fingers crossed until the summer to hear if the proposal is assigned.

Below is a summary of the project and the list of partners in the project.

This consortium wants to address the high demand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and OpenCourseWare (OCW). On the supply side we identify and organise the collection of existing courses and we look at new ways of education, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This should position Europe as leading region in the field of Open Education.

This is a large consortium with 55 partners from 31 EU countries, and 2 third countries partners. The partners include universities and associations of universities. All partners are active in the field of STEM education and support the Open Education Movement.

In this consortium we have combined the forerunners in the field of Open Education in Europe, such as the Open University UK and Delft University of Technology, with leading universities in the field of STEM, such as ETH Zurich, Oxford University, and KU Leuven.

The project has good balance between implementation and dissemination & exploitation work packages.

The implementation work packages focuses on:

• utilizing the already existing plethora of openly accessible learning materials and objects that are freely available online whether through universities’ portals or from other sources;
• the recognition, monitoring and joint degrees;
• the development of best practices for cooperation between institutions and professions;
• increasing the opportunities for women and underrepresented groups in STEM education;
• the need for students to engage with and develop skills related to professional practice of STEM subjects.

The dissemination and exploitation is focused on spreading the knowledge and experiences of this consortium via the networks of the partners to universities (their teachers and students), policy makers and Life Long Learners, such as workers and employers, from around Europe.

The annual conferences (Warsaw (PL), Rome (IT) and Leuven (BE)) will be open for anyone to participate and will be actively promoted around Europe.

Here the list of partners in the project: