We had a wonderful conference call today.  I’ll begin w/ the outcomes:

1. OER in Health Whitepaper: We are collaborating on an “OER in Health” white paper.  David Stern and Ted Hans have drafted an initial outline for the document, which can be found here.
   1. We are looking to spend the next few weeks fleshing out the outline.  We welcome feedback from all community members on this outline as a starting point.  What is missing?  What should be changed?  What should be removed?
   2. For those of you who desire editing access to the document, please let me know via email (johndehlin(@)gmail.com).
   3. Volunteers for the drafting committee for this document are: David Stern, Ted Hans, Mary Lee, Anil Srivastava, Joel Thierstein,
2. It has also been recommended that we begin thinking about 2 additional projects for the OER in Health group.  These projects are:
   1. Community Landscape Document (Mary Lee and Anil Srivastava as initial leads)
   2. “How to do OER in Health” Cookbook (Mary Lee, Shoba as initial leads)
3. OER in Health Foundation Partners: It is important that we begin now identifying potention foundations to partner with on OER in Health.  Some that have been identified include:  Hewlett, Carnegie, Gates, and Clinton.  We welcome any and all feedback/thoughts from the community on who elase we might engage (Joel, David and Anil as leads).
4. Save the Date for our next OER in Health Conference — Week of April 20th, 2009: We have identified the date and location of our next face-to-face OER in Health Conference, which is the week of April 20th in Monterrey, Mexico at Monterrey Technical University.  Please pencil in this date, and we will discuss this more soon.
5. Preparing for Other Conferences to Promote OER in Health — It was requested that we begin thinking about other global medical conferences wherein we can promote OER in Health.   Some conferences mentioned included: AMEE, AAMC, TUF8 and PATHAMS (please correct me if I’m getting the acronyms wrong).  (David will take the lead on contacting the AMEE folks)
6. We agreed to proceed slowly on expanding the community until the whitepaper is written, and a few other of these projects get off the ground.
7. We agreed that the blog plus email reminders from John are the best way to communicate for the time being.
8. I would love to do a follow-up call with anyone who wants to get in on the conversation — especially from other hemispheres/regions.  Please let me know if you are interested.
9. Conference Call Attendees: Anil Srivastava, (ibHarti/OER Cancer), Ted Hans (Michigan), David Stern (Mt. Sinai), Mary Lee (Tufts), Elena Barragan (Argentina), Joel Thierstein, (Rice), Vic Vuchic (Hewlett), John Dehlin (OCWC), Shoba Ramanadhan (Yale), Phil Moss (MERLOT)
   

Please give thoughts/feedback as a comment below.

Thanks to all!!!!  More soon.

This document can now be accessed online here.

I would like to try to schedule our next conference call by phone.  I would like to propose October 24th at 9am Pacific time (U.S.), Noon Eastern (U.S.).

Please let me know if any of you can make this time, and if you can’t, please propose an alternative day.

Thanks!

The Hewlett Foundation is interested in the creation of a “Landscape” Paper to kick off the discussion of Health OER worldwide.  Putting aside for a moment the question of who will actually author the final paper (maybe it will be a single person, maybe it will be a few people, maybe we will write it as a group) — here are a few things we know about the paper:

Continue Reading »

It has been proposed that we begin planning for an early 2009 meeting.  I can think of at least 2 options for starters, and perhaps you all can offer additional thoughts/feedback.

Continue Reading »

We have created 2 email lists for the OER in Health movement (generously supported by the OCW Consortium).  Just to be clear:

• General OER in Health Email List: This email list is for general awareness/support of the OER in Health Movement.  This list is for everyone interested in OER in Health.
• OER in Health Steering Committee Email List: This email list is for folks wanting to help guide the strategy and priorities of the committee — and who are willing to invest resources (time, $$$, etc.) to support in substantive ways the shaping of our next 6-12 months.

Finally, if you want to be removed from either of these lists — you can also do so at the links above.

Thanks so much for your interest and support in Health OER. More soon!

For those of you interested in participating in the “OER in Health” Initiative…..

• Email Group: For those of you interested in joining our OER in Health email list, click here.
• Link to Your Site: If you would like us to link to your OER in Health-related site, email John here.
• Ideas and Committee Members Welcome: If you have ideas for how we can move the OER in Health ball forward, or if you would like to lead or support a subcommittee, please email John here to discuss.  Ideas for specific projects through which we can collaborate would be a top priority for me.

Thanks!

John Dehlin

For those who were not able to attend, an inaugural “OER in Health” symposium was held in Washington, D.C. from September 3-4, 2008 — hosted by the Institute of Medicine, and sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the OpenCourseWare Consortium.

The high-level agenda for the conference can be found here.

The presentations for the conference can be found below:

Continue Reading »