It has been two years since I last posted on this blog. Life gets in the way sometimes. I like to polish my posts until they are perfect, and although I have had numerous ideas for what to post about I never found the time to follow thru on them.
Never-the-less my current situation calls upon me to revive this platform.
While searching online I came across a movement called OERu, the Open Educational Resources University. This is a partnership of several universities around the world to provide distance education courses at minimal cost, using open educational resources (often licensed under creative commons). I have missed learning in a formal environment and this appealed to me.
For the past couple of months I have been taking an undergraduate course via the University of the People, an organization which also provides courses at minimal cost using OER materials. While I have enjoyed the interaction with other class members I am finding the material not challenging enough. My last exam was supposed to take 30 minutes, and I had completed it in under five. Ultimately I want to obtain another graduate level qualification. UoPeople is planning to create an MBA program but has not launched it yet.
The good news is the University of Wollongong in Australia is about to start a Graduate Certificate in Global Citizenship delivered via OERu. Since I have been on vacation from work this week I have used this time to get a head start on the readings and videos, as well as planning out some of the written material.
The first course is on the UN, Global Governance and Diplomacy. One of the requirements of taking this course is to create 4 blog posts on the topics presented in the course, and I am already finding getting back into creative thinking mode to be enjoyable. It also requires increased use of twitter, and thanks to twitter I learned that General Romeo Dallaire would be speaking at my Alma Mater. With about an hour of notice I was able to attend his speech “Does a leading middle power have a leadership role in conflict prevention?”.
Dallaire was an enjoyable speaker, and was kind enough to take a photo with me and my brother after the speech. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate some of his themes into my written work for this course.
In Summary, I’m back !
jordandrewdotca 
Sorry to hear the program was axed. Hopefully you’ll find a way to salvage the credits somehow!