Fostering Government Support for OER Internationally
World OER Congress
Background
Following up on a draft resolution calling for the further promotion of OER that was presented by the USA at the 35th UNESCO General Conference (2009) and as part of a COL-UNESCO workplan agreement, COL and UNESCO have worked together in promoting Open Educational Resources (OER). This resolution was inspired by the Communiqué of UNESCO’s 2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research For Societal Change and Development, which stated that Open and Distance Learning approaches and Information and Communications Technologies present opportunities to widen access to quality education, particularly when OER are readily shared among many countries and higher education institutions (Communiqué, 8 July 2009).
This was the context for the COL-UNESCO initiative Taking OER beyond the OER Community: Policy and Capacity launched in 2010 with the aim of increasing the level of understanding of OER by educational decision makers and quality assurance experts so as to promote their wider use. The initiative focused in the first instance on higher education institutions – universities located in Africa, Asia and the Pacific – as part of a Joint Work Plan Agreement between UNESCO and COL. It was financed with regular programme funds from the two organisations and some extra-budgetary funds provided by the US Government through its delegation to UNESCO (see: http://oerworkshop.weebly.com).
Under this initiative six advocacy and capacity-strengthening workshops (in Africa and Asia) and three online forums on OER have been held. In December 2010 UNESCO and COL convened Member States to a policy forum on OER in Paris to reflect on progress and chart the next steps in the process. The policy forum recommended that COL and UNESCO develop policy guidelines to support the integration of OER into higher education.
In response to the recommendation, through a broad consultative process, UNESCO and COL have developed Guidelines for OER in Higher Education (see: http://www.col.org/OERGuidelines). These are loosely inspired by the model of the 2005 UNESCO-OECD Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education (see: http://www.unesco.org/education/guidelines_E.indd.pdf) and, like them, address key stakeholder groups: governments; higher education providers; teaching staff; student bodies and quality assurance/ accreditation & qualification recognition bodies. These guidelines were launched at the 36th UNESCO General Conference on 1 November 2011.
In parallel, A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (see: www.col.org/oerBasicGuide) has been published and is an important starter document and compendium of information and resources.
This was the context for the COL-UNESCO initiative Taking OER beyond the OER Community: Policy and Capacity launched in 2010 with the aim of increasing the level of understanding of OER by educational decision makers and quality assurance experts so as to promote their wider use. The initiative focused in the first instance on higher education institutions – universities located in Africa, Asia and the Pacific – as part of a Joint Work Plan Agreement between UNESCO and COL. It was financed with regular programme funds from the two organisations and some extra-budgetary funds provided by the US Government through its delegation to UNESCO (see: http://oerworkshop.weebly.com).
Under this initiative six advocacy and capacity-strengthening workshops (in Africa and Asia) and three online forums on OER have been held. In December 2010 UNESCO and COL convened Member States to a policy forum on OER in Paris to reflect on progress and chart the next steps in the process. The policy forum recommended that COL and UNESCO develop policy guidelines to support the integration of OER into higher education.
In response to the recommendation, through a broad consultative process, UNESCO and COL have developed Guidelines for OER in Higher Education (see: http://www.col.org/OERGuidelines). These are loosely inspired by the model of the 2005 UNESCO-OECD Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education (see: http://www.unesco.org/education/guidelines_E.indd.pdf) and, like them, address key stakeholder groups: governments; higher education providers; teaching staff; student bodies and quality assurance/ accreditation & qualification recognition bodies. These guidelines were launched at the 36th UNESCO General Conference on 1 November 2011.
In parallel, A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (see: www.col.org/oerBasicGuide) has been published and is an important starter document and compendium of information and resources.
Video - Open Access Week 2012
Getting Governments to back OER: a joint COL-UNESCO project
Background note to the World OER Congress
background_note.pdf | |
File Size: | 421 kb |
File Type: |