A keynote address by Catherine Ngugi at the Open Learning Conference 2009 in Nottingham, UK, November 2009. The focus of this address was that OER presents an opportunity to overhaul how we think about and practice higher education - and how education as a collaborative endeavour - a cornerstone of the OER movement - is far more likely to result in success than going it alone. The video presentation can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0HyeN130gc.