open educational resources: building a culture of sharing

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Koalicja Otwartej EdukacjiOER conference

Warsaw, 23 April 2009

Open Educational Resources:

Building a Culture of Sharing

Susan D’AntoniUNESCO

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Open Educational Resources:

Building a culture of sharing

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Challenges…

Challenges facing societies– Globalization– Rise of knowledge-intensive societies Demand for increasingly skilled population

Challenges to education systems– Extend reach of education– Improve quality and flexibility Could technology offer the solution?

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New developments…

An important convergence– Increasing connectivity– Growing numbers of low-cost devices– Expanding body of open digital content

Together they facilitate the sharing of knowledge

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Open Educational Resources

What are they?– Digitized educational materials offered freely and

openly for use and re-use in teaching, learning and research

Why are they important?– Contribute to building a culture of sharing

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The growing OER movement:

Evidence of a culture of sharing

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MIT OpenCourseWare 1999: faculty response to challenge

of online education 2000: OCW initiated Goal: make accessible all primary

course material on the web 2002: launched 50-course pilot 2009: almost 1,900 courses

available

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2002 UNESCO meeting

Academics convened to assess potential of open courseware for developing countries

Positive response Participants coined the term Open Educational

Resources for this “universal resource for the whole of humanity”

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Growth of a movement…OpenCourseWare Consortium 2005: consortium established to assist the

OCW movement Goal: support collaboration among 200+

member institutions worldwide mid-2008: 6,200 courses available

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OpenER…responding to national objectives Goal: 50% participation in higher education by 2010 2006: Open University of the Netherlands launches

OpenER Objectives

– Bridge gap between informal and formal learning– Reduce barriers to higher education

2008: Minister of Education launches national OER infrastructure

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III

UNESCO action:

Promoting awareness of OER

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The need for awareness raising

Potential of OER to contribute to building knowledge societies – especially knowledge-sharing societies

But… No awareness of availability resources not utilized

and potential not realized

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Building the OER Community

Objectives– Increase awareness– Support capacity building and decision making

Activities – 2005: first forum 500 participants from 90 countries– 2005-2007: regular topic-specific discussions– 2007: Way Forward consultation

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Characteristics of the community

North America22%

Sub-Saharan Africa16%

Latin America6%

East Asia5%

The Pacific4%

Central and Eastern Europe3%

Western Europe30%

South and West Asia

9%

Arab States3%

Caribbean1% Central Asia

0.5% 600+ members 98 countries 67 developing countries

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Community members…organizations represented

Over 50% from higher education institutions

Over 20% from international organizations and NGOs

University36%

Self-employed4%

Other18%

Distance-learning university institution

11%International organization

10%

Research institution

6%

International NGO6%

National NGO5%

National government

4%

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Community members…positions held

Almost 40% held high-level positions

Almost 20% teaching professionals

Senior official or manager17%

Researcher12%

Consultant5%

Other9%

Teaching professional

18%

Director or chief executive

20%

Project or programme officer

12%

ICT professional

7%

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2007 consultation: 14 issues

Advancing the movement Awareness raising Communities and networking Research

Enabling creation and re-use Policies Standards Technology tools Quality assurance Capacity development

Enabling learning with OER Learning support services Assessment of learning

Removing barriers to OER Accessibility Copyright and licensing Financing Sustainability

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What are the priorities?

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Issues in rank order

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6 priorities

Awareness raising and promotion

Communities and networking Capacity development Sustainability Quality assurance Copyright

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Who should take action?

Academics Higher education institutions International organizations National government

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Strengthening a culture of sharing at the national level

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The need for stimulus funding

Need for new funding models

Examples from Europe– Funding for OpenER from Dutch ministries– UK funding call: £4.7m for pilot OER programmes

Educational materials developed through public funding should be available to all

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The importance of accessibility

Investment needed in infrastructure and technology

Challenge to public archives: respond to increasing demand for storage and access

Reach new audiences and enable new use through collaboration with online platforms (Flickr, Wikimedia Commons…)

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The need for enabling policy

A national culture of sharing must be enabled by policy

Output of government-supported work should be open

Degree of openness could be used to determine awarding of grants and contracts

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The need for champions

A key stakeholder role:– OER champion!

A role taken up with energy and commitment in Poland:– Modern Poland Foundation– Open Education Coalition

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Thank you for your attention

Join the Community

Email

s.dantoni@unesco.org

Consult the resources

Wiki

http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org