Engaging employers with youth in workforce preparation activities is widely supported by program providers as a good practice. Research, although limited, supports this practice as well. This paper describes the findings from 58 interviews with youth program providers, employers, and policy-makers that explored the inclusion of employers in workforce preparation activities for disadvantaged youth. We examined the degree to which youth and employers are prepared to engage with each other, how race and culture influence the entire experience, and whether program and policy efforts to increase employer engagement are in scale with youth program demand. The research highlighted important disconnects between program providers and employers and the affect these disconnects may have on expanding employer involvement. Implications for program development are also discussed.

Engaging employers with youth in workforce preparation activities is widely supported by program providers as a good practice. Research, although limited, supports this practice as well. This paper describes the findings from 58 interviews with youth program providers, employers, and policy-makers that explored the inclusion of employers in workforce preparation activities for disadvantaged youth. We examined the degree to which youth and employers are prepared to engage with each other, how race and culture influence the entire experience, and whether program and policy efforts to increase employer engagement are in scale with youth program demand. The research highlighted important disconnects between program providers and employers and the affect these disconnects may have on expanding employer involvement. Implications for program development are also discussed.

Empowered by a multi-partner Consortium, MORIL will deliver high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) with pedagogically-rich content, specifically designed and developed for distance learning. MORIL refers to "Multilingual Open Educational Resources for Independent Learning". It constitutes a New Generation of open resources, having a strong focus on development and delivery of quality-assured materials for off-campus target groups. MORIL is value added, as face-to-face didactics are not obligatory, contrary to on-campus education. Besides open offers, formal offers are fronted as well, establishing a transparent prospective learning path into higher education for those that seek recognition and/or certification. MORIL will provide a single European access point for lifelong open and flexible learning: a referatory to participating local repository portals. For courses of interest to domestic markets, universities can utilise multilingual versioning and localisation. Blending MORIL with leading edge quality assurance and benchmarking, truly provides the Consortium with a head start. European-wide quality and benchmarking is enabled by E-xcellence: a web-based instrument to assess the quality of e-learning in higher education. Although many instruments already exist, which cover the organisational and content-related quality assurance of higher education institutions and programmes, only few exist which have developed a focus on the parameters of quality assurance that govern e-learning and even fewer or none, have their focus on OER. E-xcellence as such being supplemented to MORIL, is to cater for open and accessible quality and benchmarking. MORIL is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Empowered by a multi-partner Consortium, MORIL will deliver high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) with pedagogically-rich content, specifically designed and developed for distance learning. MORIL refers to "Multilingual Open Educational Resources for Independent Learning". It constitutes a New Generation of open resources, having a strong focus on development and delivery of quality-assured materials for off-campus target groups. MORIL is value added, as face-to-face didactics are not obligatory, contrary to on-campus education. Besides open offers, formal offers are fronted as well, establishing a transparent prospective learning path into higher education for those that seek recognition and/or certification. MORIL will provide a single European access point for lifelong open and flexible learning: a referatory to participating local repository portals. For courses of interest to domestic markets, universities can utilise multilingual versioning and localisation. Blending MORIL with leading edge quality assurance and benchmarking, truly provides the Consortium with a head start. European-wide quality and benchmarking is enabled by E-xcellence: a web-based instrument to assess the quality of e-learning in higher education. Although many instruments already exist, which cover the organisational and content-related quality assurance of higher education institutions and programmes, only few exist which have developed a focus on the parameters of quality assurance that govern e-learning and even fewer or none, have their focus on OER. E-xcellence as such being supplemented to MORIL, is to cater for open and accessible quality and benchmarking. MORIL is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Welcome to the world of Open Educational Resources (OER). This handbook is designed to help educators find, use, develop and share OER to enhance their effectiveness online and in the classroom.

Although no prior knowledge of OER is required, some experience using a computer and browsing the Internet will be helpful. For example, it is preferable that you have experience using a word processor (e.g. Open Office or Microsoft Word) and basic media production software, such as an image editor (e.g. Gimp, Inkscape or Photoshop).

The handbook works best when there is some sort of OER you would like to create or make available to others, but it is also useful for the curious reader.
There are several ways to use this handbook, including:

Cover-to-cover, which is intended for newcomers who want to gain an understanding of OER and engage in the whole development cycle (find, compose, adapt, use, share, ...) in a real world setting;

Individual sections, as a quick reference for educators engaged in OER development looking for pointers at any stage in the OER development cycle.

You are not expected to be an instructional designer or media production expert to use this book. If you encounter a term with which you are unfamiliar, check the glossary at the end of the handbook for a definition.

What this handbook does not cover

OER is a broad topic and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to cover it comprehensively. This handbook does not include tutorials on the software used, though the URLs of some tutorials have been provided. It also does not prescribe a particular teaching method when using OER.

If you are educational technology staff at an institution, the institution handbook may be more appropriate for you. There will also be a handbook available for policy-makers such as superintendents and higher education staff. See the Introduction to Other Handbooks in Conclusion for more information.

Welcome to the world of Open Educational Resources (OER). This handbook is designed to help educators find, use, develop and share OER to enhance their effectiveness online and in the classroom.

Although no prior knowledge of OER is required, some experience using a computer and browsing the Internet will be helpful. For example, it is preferable that you have experience using a word processor (e.g. Open Office or Microsoft Word) and basic media production software, such as an image editor (e.g. Gimp, Inkscape or Photoshop).

The handbook works best when there is some sort of OER you would like to create or make available to others, but it is also useful for the curious reader.
There are several ways to use this handbook, including:

Cover-to-cover, which is intended for newcomers who want to gain an understanding of OER and engage in the whole development cycle (find, compose, adapt, use, share, ...) in a real world setting;

Individual sections, as a quick reference for educators engaged in OER development looking for pointers at any stage in the OER development cycle.

You are not expected to be an instructional designer or media production expert to use this book. If you encounter a term with which you are unfamiliar, check the glossary at the end of the handbook for a definition.

What this handbook does not cover

OER is a broad topic and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to cover it comprehensively. This handbook does not include tutorials on the software used, though the URLs of some tutorials have been provided. It also does not prescribe a particular teaching method when using OER.

If you are educational technology staff at an institution, the institution handbook may be more appropriate for you. There will also be a handbook available for policy-makers such as superintendents and higher education staff. See the Introduction to Other Handbooks in Conclusion for more information.

This report provides aggregate findings of the Faculty Survey on Open Educational Resources (OER) conducted online during late fall 2007 and early spring 2008. There were 1,203 faculty respondents to the survey from 12 Districts and 28 colleges. Of these respondents, 793 or 66% indicated they are full-time faculty. Part-time numbered 401 or 34%. There were 9 who did not indicate their full or part-time status. The faculty respondents represent a wide range of disciplines. The largest numbers were from English, Math, Counseling, Computer and Information Science, Business, ESL, and Foreign Languages. Substantial numbers were from Life, Social, Behavioral, and Physical Sciences. The respondents to the survey indicated considerable interest in using, sharing, and even producing OER learning materials. Over 90% indicated interest in using OER materials. A third of the respondents noted they were already using OER materials in their classes. As this sample does not represent the entire faculty, however, it cannot be concluded that a third of the faculty are using OER materials though many are no doubt using Internet resources. Respondents represented a wide range of disciplines including many in vocational education, basic skills, counseling, social, behavioral, life and the physical sciences. About 87% said they were likely to use OER if they were readily accessible and about 66% percent said they were interested in identifying or producing OER. About 75% of those responding to the survey indicated the type of support they would need to contribute to identifying or producing OER materials with Training, Guidelines and Templates, and Paid Compensation among the greatest needs.

This report provides aggregate findings of the Faculty Survey on Open Educational Resources (OER) conducted online during late fall 2007 and early spring 2008. There were 1,203 faculty respondents to the survey from 12 Districts and 28 colleges. Of these respondents, 793 or 66% indicated they are full-time faculty. Part-time numbered 401 or 34%. There were 9 who did not indicate their full or part-time status. The faculty respondents represent a wide range of disciplines. The largest numbers were from English, Math, Counseling, Computer and Information Science, Business, ESL, and Foreign Languages. Substantial numbers were from Life, Social, Behavioral, and Physical Sciences. The respondents to the survey indicated considerable interest in using, sharing, and even producing OER learning materials. Over 90% indicated interest in using OER materials. A third of the respondents noted they were already using OER materials in their classes. As this sample does not represent the entire faculty, however, it cannot be concluded that a third of the faculty are using OER materials though many are no doubt using Internet resources. Respondents represented a wide range of disciplines including many in vocational education, basic skills, counseling, social, behavioral, life and the physical sciences. About 87% said they were likely to use OER if they were readily accessible and about 66% percent said they were interested in identifying or producing OER. About 75% of those responding to the survey indicated the type of support they would need to contribute to identifying or producing OER materials with Training, Guidelines and Templates, and Paid Compensation among the greatest needs.