Dissemination and sustainability
Dissemination and sustainability of the project results being a major concern, separate workpackages have been dedicated to each of them.
WP6 is focused on dissemination and publicity activities related to the project in general and especially to the OER content to be developed and implemented within the project. Some of the activities envisioned to this end include:
- development and maintenance of a permanently updated interactive project Website
- organization of round tables and special sessions within enterprises
- participation in special sessions at major conferences dedicated to HE
- student information days
- publicity and advertizing of achieved project results by media coverage, conference and journal articles
The initial dissemination source will be an interactive project web site developed using state-of-the-art web technology. All information about the BAEKTEL network and about the OER materials will be readily available on the site. It will be constantly updated in order to offer the latest information on all project activities and intermediate and final project results throughout the project life-cycle. State-of-the-art web technology will also ensure interactivity of the web site by providing efficient communication among consortium members and enabling comments from third parties.
Within the dissemination activities the facilities offered by the BAEKTEL network will be presented to actual and prospective students, researchers and employees from WB in various ways. Leaflets/flyers and other advertising material will be created and distributed with the help of student organizations and training units at enterprises. The wider community will also be informed on project results through papers presented and workshops at regional and international academic conferences. At least three open days will be organized at each university for students and staff and university management, as well as meetings with public HE authorities. Additional popularization of the OER concept and available OER content will be realized through various media outlets as well as round tables and seminars.
Dissemination activities and successful implementation of BAEKTEL nodes at partner universities will lay the foundations of sustainability of the BAEKTEL network. It is possible that the OER content may not be fully appreciated the first time it is offered, but a carefully designed dissemination strategy coupled with activities managed by the EU universities and carried out at the partner universities will ensure an increasing number of BAEKTEL users year after year.
A sustainability strategy will be defined within WP7, with the aim of securing the functioning and further development of the BAEKTEL network upon the completion of this project. In addition to that, employer/student support committees will be created in order to help sustain OER learner recruitment. These committees will also be involved in ensuring continuous inflow of adequate OER content. Although the activities aimed at securing sustainability will mainly be carried out by WB partner universities, forms of agreements to be signed with partner enterprises to secure the sustainability of academic-entrepreneurial cooperation and expert consultation will also be designed. An effort will be made to involve HE authorities in promoting sustainability activities as well.
Sustainability will be secured additionally by initiating the development of a broader regional Balkan OER network - BOER, as a means for interconnecting and sharing of OER content and best practices with universities of other Balkan countries. Development of BOER would contribute to promoting virtual mobility of students and thus sustaining OER learner inflow from the entire Balkan region. The ultimate goal would be to make the BAEKTEL/BOER network a formal part of the larger OER community such as OER Commons.
