Just before lunch I had a fantastic conversation with an educational developer from Open Universities Australia (OUA). With the provincial government preparing to create implement an Ontario Online Institute, learning from the experiences of others is critical if we are to avoid duplicating their mistakes.
The OUA, like the Open University in the UK, takes online courses from “brick and mortar” universities and brings them together to create degree programs. Students interact directly with the OUA on everything from admissions to student support, but another institution grants the final degree. In pulling all these online courses together, credit transfer and cost-sharing become significant hurdles, but the OUA has worked through these issues over the last 15 years or so.
This is exactly the kind of model students want to see from the Ontario Online Institute, and OUSA will continue to work with the OUA and other partners in online education as we prepare a detailed blueprint for the Institute.
Alexi White
Executive Director
