A new issue of EDUCAUSE Quarterly has just been released that focuses on "Anticipating the Future of Higher Education". The issue includes an article written by Patrick McAndrew, Eileen Scanlon and Doug Clow who all work with the OLnet team at The Open University that draws on a range of project work at the OU, including OpenLearn and OLnet. The lessons to take away are summarised as:

• As the world becomes more open, universities have the opportunity to embrace openness in how they carry out their operations, teaching, and research.
• Open educational resources can provide the catalyst for different forms of learning, linking formal and informal aspects and splitting up the functions of content, support, assessment, and accreditation.
• Models from research suggest that an open approach is likely to encourage the crossing of boundaries between inside and outside the classroom, games and tools for learning, and the amateur and the expert.
• A new attitude toward research and scholarship is needed to work with the data of openness and to use it as an approach to gather evidence, share thoughts, and disseminate results.

The paper's reference and URL is:

McAndrew, P., Scanlon, E., & Clow, D. (2010). An open future for higher education. EDUCAUSE Quarterly , 33 (1).

URL http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/AnOpenFutureforHigherEducation/199388