Hi Dave

Thanks for the interesting post.

I agree with John’s point about the need for a sustainable business model for open education. I have worked on an OER (open educational resources) project in the UK and have found that people’s motivations to contribute range from the commercial (‘Publishing OERs will help us recruit paying students’) to the altruistic (‘We want to share knowledge with others in the global community – particularly those who wouldn’t normally have access to such resources’). Each of these attitudes has an implied underlying business model, with those in the altruistic camp often seeking external funding for their projects.

Do we need sustainable business models at an institutional level for open education, or is this something that governments should be funding? John’s comments seem to point to the tensions around these questions in Australia.

Thanks for raising the issues
Gabi