Current debates on radical changes in HEI sector are fuelled by new models of educational provision by non-formal providers e.g. the Khan academy, Itunes U and Iversity.Leading providers were often part of the open access movement which had gained traction within universities first, leading to the creation of numerous courseware repositories of open educational resources (OERs) worldwide. In recent years a number of prestigious universities have started to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) expanding access to formal education to potentially tens of thousands of learners. Those new models of the formal learning sector are currently challenged by a lack of examples of accreditation of learning obtained through them, thus significantly reducing their transformative potential. The workshop addresses this need.

During the first part participants will learn about

• giving credit for learning using OERs: from a set of scenarios to a shared working model among universities
• the introduction of MOOCs at the University of Edinburgh

The second part will be a discussion focused on

• If and how MOOCs and OER-based credits contribute to the core mission of Higher Education institutions
• Whether and under which circumstances open learning certification fits with the self-understanding of universities reflected in institutional strategies and policies
• If MOOCs and OER-based learning including its certification has the potential to become the core business of Higher Education or for providing a additional learning pathway

This workshop will be facilitated by:  Anne-Christin Tannhäuser (Scienter), Chahira Nouira (United Nations University), Jeff Haywood (University of Edinburgh),members of the OERtest consortium.

The workshop is programmed as session 4, from 11:45 – 13:15 in AULA 2 of the conference venue.