Assessment content will be regarded as just another kind of OER and not something that belongs in a separate box of its own.

JISC are not mandating the use of content packaging or other standards, or the use of a common metadata framework. Therefore JISC are no longer interested in standards or metadata

Several misconceptions here. We are mandating the use of suitable standards where these exist (eg IMS CC, SCORM…), and indeed, if we were only interested in the release of materials for online use then we would expect pretty much everything to be standards compliant. But we want to see the release of all kinds of content, for online learning and more traditional forms of learning. There would be little point in wrapping up a reading list or a presentation in IMS CP!

The metadata approach has surprised a few people – but reflecting on the real “openness” we are trying to achieve we felt that a hefty metadata requirement would serve to stifle the release of a lot of interesting materials and a lot of interesting ways. The pilot-y-ness of the programme means we can be innovative like this, after all people find stuff on the rest of the web all the without epic metadata – can we do it with a single tag, a title and contributor data? There are areas of our work were precise metadata specifications are essential, we felt that a more open approach would make it easier to release content, and easier to use a variety (institutional websites, institutional repositories, web 2.0, Jorum Open) of mechanisms to do so.