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◇ Proposal · in design · sector-convened
A Graduate Certificate, by the sector, for the sector.
One national, stackable Graduate Certificate in Higher Education — where each university contributes a single module in its genuine area of strength, credit is portable across institutions, and the whole thing is owned by no one.
The open-commons answer to the MOOC. Convened in conversation with CAULLT; hosted on the open infrastructure of NTLSN. This is a proposal in design — not yet an accredited award.
Why — the sector is duplicating, and access is uneven
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universities each run their own Grad Cert
Thirty-odd institutions rebuilding the same foundations in parallel — effort the sector spends competing instead of compounding.
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offer a fully stackable, portable model
No provider yet offers open micro-units with credit that travels between institutions. The transferable layer simply doesn't exist.
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casuals & teaching-focused staff left out
The people who do much of the teaching often can't access a Grad Cert at all — locked out by cost, contract or eligibility.
The MOOC was supposed to fix this. Instead it became a commercial platform play — open in name, extractive in practice, the value flowing out of the sector and the content locked behind someone else's login. We can do the opposite.
The model — one module per university, its strength
Not thirty-one duplicate programs. One excellent program, assembled from modules each contributed by a university with real depth in that area — and offered as open, stackable micro-units (take what you need; build toward the full award).
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Designing learning & curriculum
Outcomes, constructive alignment, programmes that cohere.
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Assessment & integrity in the age of AI
Valid, authentic, AI-resilient assessment and feedback.
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Online, blended & digital learning
Designing for flexible and distance delivery, done well.
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Inclusive & accessible teaching
Universal Design for Learning; equity by design.
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First Nations knowledges & perspectives
Custodian-led — authored and governed by First Nations scholars under ICIP sovereignty.
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Scholarship & evaluation of teaching
SoTL: studying your teaching and sharing what you find.
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Students as partners & co-creation
Sharing power; designing learning with students, not for them.
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Leadership & mentoring in L&T
Leading change and growing others across a school or sector.
Module areas are illustrative — the actual map would be set by the contributing universities and CAULLT. Each module: open, credit-bearing, badged (Open Badges 3.0), and stackable toward the full Graduate Certificate.
Why it isn't a MOOC
The MOOC model
- A platform someone else owns
- Content locked behind a login
- Value extracted from the sector
- A certificate of completion
- Built once, by one provider
A sector commons
- Infrastructure the sector owns together
- Open, portable, and yours to keep
- Value shared and kept in the sector
- Real credit, recognised across institutions
- Built by the whole sector, to its strengths
The transferable infrastructure of the sector
Build it once. Everyone keeps it.
This is more than a course — it's shared infrastructure. Every academic, at every institution, casual or continuing, gets access to teaching development built by the whole sector. Credit travels with the person, not the platform. And because it's a commons, it survives the restructures that keep erasing the sector's hard-won knowledge. The MOOC asked the sector to rent. This asks it to own — together.
This is a proposal in design — not an accredited award, and not yet endorsed by any body. Realising it needs the sector: CAULLT to convene, universities to contribute and recognise modules, and accreditation worked through properly. What's fixed is the principle — open, stackable, portable, and owned by the sector rather than a platform. The First Nations module is named as custodian-led and would be authored and governed by First Nations scholars; it is not drafted here.