This interview appeared in Hewlett's November 2007 newsletter; Catherine Casserly is the Program Officer at Hewlett for Open Educational Resources. Her observations on how the OER movement has developed and perspectives on directions it may take are worth reading. ____JH
"What are the implications of having high quality educational materials freely available without issuing credentials like diplomas to confirm a student has mastery of a subject? Right now the educational materials on the Web also serve to guide a student to an institution where they might want to enroll to learn about a certain subject. But I think eventually we will see the creation of institutions to issue credentials based on self-guided study via the Web. That will probably involve payments for testing and evaluation."
"Look into your crystal ball. What do you think all this will look like in another decade based on advances in technology and current trends? We can’t even imagine what the technology will look like in ten years. I think we’ll have a vast library of available knowledge and alternative ways for people to get access to higher education. I think we’ll have institutions that grant credentials for this learning. And I hope we’ll have students who engage in learning in rewarding ways that make them creators of knowledge. And it’s through that creation that they learn. That will be a big turning point."