Tues 6 March, 10:30 pm-12:00 am NZ time (6 March, 9.30-11:00 am UK):

Jim Taylor (University of Southern Queensland, an OERu Anchor Partner), Grainne Conole (University of Leicester) and Vasi Doncheva (Northtec Polytechnic, New Zealand – an OERu Anchor Partner)

Wed. 7 March, 4.30-6:00 am NZ time (6 March, 3.30-5:00 pm UK):

George Siemens (Athabasca University)

Wed 7 March, 10:30 pm -12:00 am NZ time (7 March, 9.30-11:00 am UK):

Martin Weller and Patrick McAndrew (both from the Open University, UK), Sandra Wills (University of Wollongong, Australia)

To find out more about this series of 3 1-1/2 hour free online seminars, and to register, visit the Toucans Project Blog, (which is where I copied the following text):

The UN has noted that there are approximately 100 million adults in the world, mostly in developing countries, who are eligible to enter higher education, but cannot afford the enrolment fees. As part of our contribution to Open Education Week (5-9 March), we are hostng a series of three Webinars entitled “Enabling universal access to higher education via openness and collaboration?” at the University of Leicester. Speakers will exchange ideas on how the emerging culture of open access, combined with the existence of new collaborative partnerships such as the OERu (Open Educational Resources university), OERtest and others, might enable access to higher education – and accreditation – on a massive scale that would previously have been unthinkable. Initiatives such as the OERu are actively piloting new models for the sharing of resources and expertise in higher education, to enhance the quality of their existing provision and address needs beyond the boundaries of their traditional constituencies. To find out more, see the “Five things you should know about the OERu Network Plan”.