The OpenCourseWare Consortium Awards for OpenCourseWare Excellence (ACE)

The Awards for OpenCourseWare Excellence provide annual recognition to outstanding courseware and OpenCourseWare sites created in the OCW Consortium community. They also recognize individual leadership in moving the ideals of OpenCourseWare and Open Educational Resources forward.  The awards are announced each year at the global OpenCourseWare Consortium's annual conference.

Awards

There are three categories of awards:

Individual awards, which recognize career achievements.  One award will be given in each category.

  • Leadership ACE - Recognizes contributions of individuals who have demonstrated significant leadership in the OCW/OER community.
  • Educator ACE - Recognizes contributions of educators who have published a significant body of courseware over a sustained period.

Site awards, which recognize excellence in an OCW site.  One award will be given for each category.

  • Outstanding New Site ACE - Recognizes outstanding institutional or affiliate sites launched during the 2012 calendar year.
  • Landmark Site ACE - Recognizes outstanding institutional or affiliate sites launched prior to January 1, 2012.
  • Technical Innovation ACE - Recognizes outstanding technical innovations on institutional or affiliate sites implemented during the 2012 calendar year.

CourseWare awards, which recognize outstanding course materials in two categories, Video & Multimedia and Text & Illustrations.  Five awards will be given in each category.

  • Outstanding Course/Video and Multimedia ACE - Recognizes courses published on member sites that include substantial video and/or multimedia elements.
  • Outstanding Course/Text and Illustrations ACE - Recognizes courses published on member sites that include only text and still photos or other static illustrations.

Eligibility

Individual awards are open to any member of the OCW/OER community.  Site and course awards are open to sites of OCW Consortium member institutions and affiliates.  Staff, officers and current board members of the Consortium are not eligible for individual awards.

General Award Process

For individual awards:

  • Anyone may propose a nomination for Individual ACE categories, but individuals may not self-nominate.
  • Individual award nominations are made in writing via a web form.
  • The Consortium board votes on individual awards at its January meeting.

For site and course awards:

  • Nomination for site and course ACE's are accepted from the community, and organizations may self-nominate.
  • Submissions for sites and courses can be by URL alone, but a description or videos/screen captures highlighting the nominated material's features are encouraged. Videos should be posted to YouTube and tagged OCWACE2013 in the video’s title.
  • The ACE awards committee, comprised of individuals from OCW Consortium member organizations, will select three finalists and seven semi-finalists from each category.
  • Finalists and semi-finalists will be posted to the OCW Consortium website in advance of the annual global conference.

** Online nomination form will be available on this page mid-November.

Award Criteria

Individual awards

Leadership ACE - Recognizes contributions of individuals who have demonstrated significant leadership in the OCW/OER community.

  • An individual with a longstanding involvement with OCW/OER
  • An individual whose contributions to OCW/OER have spanned regions or had global impact
  • An individual who has made significant, clear and discrete contributions to the furtherance of the OCW/OER movement

Educator ACE - Recognizes contributions of educators who have published a significant body of courseware over a sustained period.

  • An individual who has contributed a significant body of their courseware to OCW/OER publication
  • An individual whose course materials have been recognized regionally as having impact
  • An individual whose course material contributions are important in influencing peers to share materials more openly

Site awards

Outstanding New Site ACE - Recognizes outstanding OCW sites launched in the previous calendar year.

  • A new site of exemplary quality in its presentation of educational content (in breadth, depth, creativity)
  • This award is independent of and does not judge the quality of the academic materials; it addresses only the presentation of those materials.

Landmark Site ACE - Recognizes outstanding OCW sites that have been in existence for more than one year.

  • An OCW site of exemplary quality in its presentation of educational content (in breadth, depth, creativity)
  • This award is independent of and does not judge the quality of the academic materials; it addresses only the presentation of those materials

Technical Innovation ACE - Recognizes outstanding technical innovations on OCW sites implemented in the previous calendar year.

  • A technical innovation that substantially improves the discoverability, presentation, usability, accessibility or availability of course materials
  • An innovation that impacts a broad audience
  • An innovation that can be leveraged by the broader community

Courseware awards

Outstanding Course/Video and Multimedia ACE - Recognizes courses published on member sites that include substantial video and/or multimedia elements.

  • A course of exemplary quality in its presentation of educational content (in breadth, depth, creativity)
  • A course presenting substantial portions of core academic content or concepts through video or multimedia
  • This award is independent of and does not judge the quality of the academic materials; it addresses only the presentation of those materials

Outstanding Course/Text and Illustrations ACE - Recognizes courses published on member sites that include only text and still photos or other static illustrations.

  • A course of exemplary quality in its presentation of educational content (in breadth, depth, creativity)
  • A course presenting substantial portions of core academic content or concepts through text and static illustrations; any multimedia included will not be given significant weight in judging
  • This award is independent of and does not judge the quality of the academic materials; it addresses only the presentation of those materials
Nominations

Timeline

Note:  Due to the extended nomination period, announcement dates have been changed.

Nov 1, 2012 - Call for nominations
Jan 31, 2013 - Nominations period closes
Feb 20, 2013 - OCWC Board selects individual winners
Mar 5, 2013 - Individual winners announced
Mar 15, 2013 - ACE Committee finalizes site winner selection
Mar 19, 2013 - Site winners announced
Apr 12, 2013 - ACE Committee finalizes course winner selection
May 8-10, 2013 - Awards dinner, course winners announced