"I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to these exceptional and like-minded organizations," said Cooperman. "Both the OCWC and the AVU share my passion for investing in the future of learning by creating open educational resources. I look forward to leveraging my experience at UC Irvine and other educational institutions to build and nurture a vibrant, culturally diverse global community that is connected to the open education movement."
The OCWC is a collaboration of more than 200 higher educational institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of educational content using a shared model. The board of directors of OCWC strives to advance education and empower people worldwide through OCW. As a member of the group, Cooperman will oversee management issues such as membership, budgets and other financial issues. Appointed by the organization's executive council, board directors also provide guidance with committee development and OCWC policy issues.
The AVU strives to facilitate the use of effective open, distance, and e-learning in African institutions of tertiary education. They implement important changes in order to put a strong emphasis on impact and organizational sustainability. As a member of the board of directors, Cooperman will work closely with the member states, the partner institutions, the donors and other strategic partners to increase access to quality higher education in Africa professionally, passionately and efficiently.
"Larry Cooperman is one of the driving forces behind the University's Open CourseWare movement and has played a pivotal role in establishing UC Irvine's membership in the OCW as the first West Coast university in the consortium," said Gary W. Matkin, dean of continuing education at UC Irvine. "We are pleased that Cooperman's creativity and vision will extend UC Irvine's contribution to these organizations that are dedicated to improving lives around the world."
UC Irvine's OCW project is Cooperman's third initiative within the University of California system. He previously managed online initiatives at both UC Irvine and UC Berkeley. In addition, Cooperman has served as chair of the Strategic Technology Committee of the OCWC. He is a founding steering committee member of the Knowledge4All Foundation, which seeks to advance video-based open educational content. Prior to joining the University of California, Cooperman was the associate vice president for educational technology at the California College of the Arts. He is also the principal developer of UC Irvine's open-source Course Authoring Tool, which has been in use since 2003 at the Distance Learning Center.
About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UC Irvine contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more news, visit www.today.uci.edu.