[LINK] Include Education in Open Model for Australian Universities

[Tom Worthington]

Universities Australia is holding a policy forum on "The Open Model -
Innovation in Government, Science and Research" featuring the White 
House Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government, at Parliament 
House, Canberra, 28 October 2010:
<http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/resources/449>.

Unfortunately the program (appended) makes no mention of the most
important area in which the open model can directly impact the
Australian universities, the community and economy: open access to 
education.

After tourism, education is Australia's largest services export, worth
$18.6B in 2009. E-learning using Australian developed open source
software and open access content, is transforming the way university
education is provided. One example is the UK Open University 
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/10/open-university-e-learning-tools.html>.

This is an opportunity for Australia's education export industry.
Australian universities can incorporate their open access research in
online courses to remain competitive on the world market.

If Australian universities fail to adopt e-learning, they will cease to
be competitive. Billions of dollars in export income will be lost if
international students choose not to study at Australian universities.
Billions more dollars will be lost if Australian students choose to
enrol in cheaper, higher quality, overseas online university courses and
abandon Australian campuses.

Blog version of this with more links: 
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/10/open-model-for-australian-universities.html>.

---

Universities Australia Policy Forum 2

8.30am-1.00pm, Thursday, 28 October 2010
Mural Hall, Australian Parliament House, Canberra

The Open Model - Innovation in Government, Science and Research

Intended Purpose

It is often remarked that the transformation that society is undergoing
at present is at least as great as that of the Industrial Revolution. As
well as the broader social and business effects of the revolutionary
changes wrought by and through the internet, there are profound actual
and potential effects on the way government and related services, as
well as research and science are conducted.

We are challenged to harness and strategically leverage the “new
connectedness” to seek to exploit new domains of interaction. How can we
assess and respond to this challenge? In particular what principles
should we develop to understand the gains to be made through more open
access to services and content?

Intended Audience

Parliamentarians, invited government and university representatives and
other interested stakeholders.

Brief program

Thematically the half day will move through two phases, opening with a
discussion about openness in government and access to government
services, and moving on to related questions for open access to
research, science, and research data in our universities.

These phases will be brought together through a final session in which
access to innovation nationally and internationally will become the
theme. The government theme will be explored through a presentation by
Nicholas Gruen, and extended through international examples from key
presenters.

The research questions will be opened up by John Wilbanks and others,
and Richard Jeffersen will make the linkages involving innovation and
access to innovation as the end piece.

Universities Australia Policy Forum 2

8.30am-1.00pm, Thursday, 28 October 2010
Mural Hall, Australian Parliament House, Canberra

8.30 APH security clearance and escort to Mural Hall

Program

9.00-9.10 Welcome and Scene Setting: Professor Peter Coaldrake, Chair,
Universities Australia, Vice-Chancellor, QUT

9.10-10.30 Open Government
Chair and Commentator:Professor Brian Fitzgerald, Professor of
Intellectual Property and Innovation, QUT

Speakers:

* Professor Beth Noveck, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open
Government, White House Office of Science & Technology, Policy: The Open
Government initiative
* Dr Nicholas Gruen, Chief Executive Officer, Lateral Economics, Chair
Gov2.0 Taskforce: Making public information more open
* Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime
Minister, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship
* Senator the Hon Brett Mason, Shadow Minister for Universities and
Research: Open government: views from Parliament
* Mr Martin Stewart-Weeks, Director, Internet Business Solutions, Public
Sector Consult Group, Cisco Systems

10.30-11.00 Morning Tea

11.00-1.00 Open Access to Research

Chair and Commentator: Professor Tom Cochrane, Chair, Australian
eResearch Infrastructure Council, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, QUT

Speakers:

* Mr John Wilbanks, Vice-President, Science, Creative Commons: Future
trends in science
* Professor Steven Schwartz, Vice-Chancellor, Macquarie University: Open
Access: An institutional perspective
* Dr Warwick Anderson AM, Chief Executive, National Health and Medical
Research Council: Open Access: A funder’s perspective
* Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Sydney:
Obstacles to collaboration and accessDr Terry Cutler, Principal, Cutler
& Company: Open Access and Innovation
* Professor Richard Jefferson, Professor of Science, Technology & Law,
QUT: Access to open innovation

12.30-1.00 Close
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Version with links in my blog:
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/10/open-model-for-australian-universities.html>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/