This project aims to promote the development, use, and distribution of Open Courseware (OCW) by the United Nations University. This will be achieved through the launch of a UNU OCW Portal, populating the portal with an initial selection of courses by Research Training Centres/Programmes (RTC/P), and establishing procedures, guidelines and tools for further course development. The project will also lay the groundwork for collaborative development of a series of new courses by the UNU family of RTC/Ps.

The objectives of the project include:

1. Set up an open courseware website and develop at least 10 open courses to be hosted on this site. The materials will be made available under open licenses (see Creative Commons) for use and adaptation by educators and learners around the world. The courses may consist of a range of materials, including:
   • Planning materials – syllabus, calendar, pedagogical statement, and/or faculty introductions
   • Subject matter content – lecture notes, reading lists, full-text readings, digital recordings
   • Learning activities – problem sets, essay assignments, quizzes.
2. Increase awareness of OCW and its benefits to RTC/Ps beyond the initial project participants.
3. Create a network of RTC/P staff that will add open courses after the initial project phase finishes.

Project deliverables - to be written.

In early 2008, Phase I of the project was completed with the successful launch of the UNU OpenCourseWare portal at http://ocw.unu.edu. The portal currently hosts 14 courses published on a variety of topics covering a range of expertise present within UNU. These include six courses on Software Technology and Electronic Governance published by UNU-IIST-EGOV: (1) Introduction to Electronic Government; (2) Strategic Planning for Electronic Government; (3) Structures and Processes for Implementing and Operating Electronic Government; (4) Workflow and Business Process Management for Electronic Government; (5) Building a Community of Practice for Electronic Government; and (6) Ontology, Semantic Web and Electronic Government. Other project partners contributed the remaining eight courses. All courses published by UNU-IIST-EGOV were adopted by the Online Training Center of the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN), an internet-based network maintained by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs that links regional and national institutions devoted to public administration to promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices. The courses are available on the UNPAN portal.

Review and enhancement to existing courses, and publication of new Software Technology and Electronic Governance courses are expected to be achieved as part of Phase II, to last until 2009. Other activities of Phase II of the project include: (i) Linking OCW to Adaptation and Training by identifying partners to offer additional training programmes based on UNU course materials; (ii) Design of an evaluation framework to monitor the use and production of UNU-OCW; (iii) Creating a "starter-kit" to make it easier for RTC/Ps to join the project; and (iv) Review of the current practices in light of the efforts towards OCW standardization within the Open Courseware Consortium, and developing institutional best practices.

Following successful submission of the project proposal to the UNU Joint Activities Fund, an initial project meeting and workshop were held during 31 August - 1 September 2007 at the UNU Center in Tokyo. The aim was to formulate a strategy for achieving the target of uploading 10 courses to the UNU-OCW portal, as required for full participation of UNU in the OCW Consortium. The project also contributed to the development of the governance structure for OCWC through its membership in the OCWC Governance Committee, development of a "Community-Based OCWC Governance Model", and contribution to the OCW Consortium Conference in September 2007. By the end of December, the Center uploaded to the UNU OCW portal six courses on various aspects of Electronic Government: (1) Introduction to Electronic Government; (2) Strategic Planning for Electronic Government; (3) Structures and Processes for Implementing and Operating Electronic Government; (4) Workflow and Business Process Management for Electronic Government; (5) Building a Community of Practice for Electronic Government; and (6) Ontology, Semantic Web and Electronic Government. Other project partners contributed the remaining courses.