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First International Conference of the CNIE27-30 April 2008Banff, Canada

Open Educational Resources

The Way Forward

Susan D’AntoniUNESCO

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Structure of the session

OER: an overview and some examples A donor vision: the Hewlett change strategy Creating an international community: the UNESCO IIEP

initiative The community speaks: the Way Forward Conclusion: next steps

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OER: a definition

Web-based materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research

(UNESCO, 2002)

Only open if they are released under an open licence Includes any tool, material or technique used to support

access to knowledge

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OER: milestones in the movement

1998: “open content” and the Open Publication License

2001: founding of Creative Commons

2001: MIT announces OpenCourseWare

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The Cape Town Declaration

“…a statement of principle, a statement of strategy and a statement of commitment … meant to spark dialogue, to inspire action and to help the open education movement grow.”

(Cape Town Open Education Declaration, 2008)

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What approaches have providers taken to making content freely and openly

available?

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MIT OpenCourseWare Institutional, faculty response to

challenge of online education 2002: launched 50-course pilot 2008: almost all course materials

available for over 2,000 subjects An adventure! (Charles Vest)

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OpenCourseWareConsortium Established in 2005 to assist the OCW

movement Supports collaboration among over 180

member institutions worldwide

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Rice University Connexions Individual response to limitations of

traditional textbooks The vision: “textbooks adapted to many

learning styles and translated into myriad languages… textbooks that are continually updated and corrected by a legion of contributors” (Rich Baraniuk)

The result: an environment for developing, sharing and publishing academic content on the web

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Carnegie MellonOpen Learning Initiative Aim: to develop stand-alone, cognitively

informed open courses Course design stresses interactivity,

problem solving and feedback A research project: aim to better

understand effective practices in online learning environments

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Open UniversityOpenLearn Course-publishing model (like MIT)

BUT Materials designed for distance

learning

AND Site designed to support collaboration

and group work

Challenges OU’s current business

model

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How have Canadian institutions responded to the challenge of OER?

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Capilano CollegeOpenCourseWare Only Canadian member of the

OCW Consortium 17 courses available in 10

subject areas

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BCcampus

A province wide initiative Funded using public money ($6.25 million by

mid-2007) An online service provider Sharable Online Learning Resources

repository Developers can choose to share materials at

local provincial level using custom BC Commons license

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A donor vision: the Hewlett change strategy Aim: to equalize access to knowledge through:

– Sponsoring high quality content– Understanding and stimulating use– Removing barriers

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UNESCO: removing barriers through awareness raising Potential of OER to contribute to:

– Education for All– Building knowledge societies – especially

“knowledge-sharing societies”

But… No awareness of availability = resources not utilized

and potential of OER not realized

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Aims of the IIEP OER initiative

International dialogue and information exchange Linking people who might not otherwise meet Creating an international OER community

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Steps in the creation of a community

Forum 1: an introduction to OER Short discussions on key topics

– OER research agenda– A “Do-It-Yourself/Do-It-Together” resource for

developing capacity– FOSS for OER

Forum 2: OECD study on OER

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Sharing the outputs

Forum 1 background documents and report OER research questions DIY/DIT resource outline FOSS for OER and lessons from the FOSS movement Forum 2 background documents and report The Way Forward: priority issues for advancing the OER

movement

Resources made available on website and wiki

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After two years of intense reflection

and discussion…

…what did the community have to say about the priorities for advancing

the OER movement?

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What are the 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 Almost 40 from Canada 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% hold high-level positions

Almost 20% are 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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What are the 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?

0

100

200

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400

500

600

700

800

Awar

enes

s rais

ing

Comm

unities

Capactiy

dev

elopm

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Sustai

nabili

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Quality

ass

uran

ce

Copyright

Learn

ing s

upport se

rvic

es

Finan

cing

Access

ibili

ty

Resear

ch

Standar

ds

Technolo

gy to

ols

Policie

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Assess

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t of l

earn

ing

Other

Tot

al v

otes

Issues in rank order

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Which stakeholders should take action? Higher education institutions International organizations National government Academics

A key stakeholder role…

…OER champion!

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The Way Forward: 6 priorities

Advancing the movement Awareness raising at all levels Community building and network development

Enabling creation and re-use Developing capacity through a DIY/DIT resource Quality assurance – develop guidelines

Removing barriers Sustainability models to ensure viability of initiatives Copyright and licensing

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What is the way forward for UNESCO?

Create an OER Network of nodes for local awareness raising and development

Continue supporting OER Community as international forum for discussion

Focus on awareness raising through international reach of UNESCO and the community itself

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How has the community responded?With passion! Creation of resources to support awareness raising and

community building:– OER stories– Introductory brochure– PowerPoint presentation

Translation of the Way Forward into 11 languages

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Join the community

Email

s.dantoni@unesco.org

Consult the resources

Wiki

http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org