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European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena Fred Mulder Chair EADTU Task Force MORIL/OER Chair ICDE Global Task Force on OER Rector Open Universiteit Nederland EADTU OER Strategy Development Seminar, K.U. Leuven, Oct. 28-29, 2008

European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

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European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena. Fred Mulder Chair EADTU Task Force MORIL/OER Chair ICDE Global Task Force on OER R ector Open Universiteit Nederland EADTU OER Strategy Development Seminar, K.U. Leuven, Oct. 28-29, 2008. About OER … Perspective. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

European OER Initiativesin the Global OER Arena

Fred MulderChair EADTU Task Force MORIL/OERChair ICDE Global Task Force on OER

Rector Open Universiteit Nederland

EADTUOER Strategy Development Seminar, K.U. Leuven, Oct. 28-29, 2008

Page 2: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

About OER … Perspective

“The most promising initiative in e-learning

is the concept - and the developing reality -

of Open Educational Resources”

--- Sir John Daniel ---

former Vice-Chancellor UKOU,

UNESCO,

Commonwealth of Learning

Page 3: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

OER Gobal Movementpioneered by MIT

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) Initiative (2001)All course materials freely available via the Internet for any non-

commercial or research use

Internal Committee (1999):“Distance education is likely to be complicated, highly competitive,

and unlikely to make money”instead:

“Give away all of our course materials by putting them on the Web” ----------------

OCW is a Web-based publishing venture,not teaching at a distance …

(Charles Vest, Former MIT President)

Page 4: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

OER Gobal Movementcarried by Hewlett Foundation

and UNESCO

UNESCO (2002) defined OER as ‘digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research’.The UNESCO OER Community is active as ever.

The Hewlett Foundation has been instrumental by funding many OER projects, starting with MIT, and still is crucial.

We see an ever increasing number of initiatives worldwide, from HE to schools, in many fields.

The Open Courseware Consortium run by MIT shows a substantially growing membership (> 120 + > 25 affiliate)

Page 5: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

OER … a New Wave

Learner-centred instead of Teacher-centred

1/ ‘Open’ should imply much more than offering open access to a large content base.

2/ ‘Educational’ should rather be read as ‘Learning’, putting the learner in the centre instead of the formal educational system and its teachers.

3/ ‘Resources’ should go beyond the initial focus on online delivery for digital content towards web-based facilities supporting dialogue, collaboration and more in general learning communities.

Adaptation of OER Definition needed …

Page 6: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Launch OER New Wave in 2006

OpenLearn

UK Open University (UKOU)

OpenER

Open Universiteit Nederland (OUNL)

MORIL

(Multilingual Open Resources for Independent Learning)

EADTU, initiated and chaired by OUNL

----------

All funded partly by:

Page 7: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Consortium

European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)

Open Universiteit Nederland (Dutch)

The Open University (English)

Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance (French)

FernUniversität in Hagen (German)

Network per l'Universita Ovunque (Italian)

Universidade Aberta (Portuguese)

Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics (Russian)

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spanish)

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spanish/Catalan)

Anadolu University (Turkish)

Page 8: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Mission

Stimulate, extend, and expand the use of OER among the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) universities in Europe

Provide lifelong learners with a new (OER-based!) gateway to Higher Education (HE)

Increase and widen participation in HE through this OER-based gateway, in line with the Lisbon agenda

Make Lifelong Open and Flexible (LOF) learning linked with new generation OER a strong Brand in Europe

Share and build on scientific and expert OER knowledge

Page 9: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Goals

Develop and offer new generation OER learning materials in a Lifelong Open and Flexible learning environment

Learning materials for independent self-study (learner-centred instead of teacher-centred; high-quality)

Easy accessible to LLL individuals, at home or at work, meeting their circumstances and needs (distance learning)

Online learning environment, supporting various kinds of learning services (a virtual rather than residential campus)

Bridging from informal learning to formal education Mobility of content in various languages and virtual mobility

of students towards ODL universities elsewhere in Europe

Page 10: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Achievements [1]

Awareness, commitment, embedding Initiate and develop institutional strategies and policies Explore the scope of the consortium Experience ways of working, sharing, partnering Balance between institutional interests and the associated

diversity versus the collective potential Get a good insight in the pros and cons of OER Learn from early adopters: UK OU (OpenLearn) and OUNL

(OpenER) Extend the commitment base at the institutions through

dedicated individuals

Page 11: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Achievements [2]

Satellite initiatives, spin-offs, and policy infusion Institutes touching ground with their own OER Task Forces

and OER course repositories Positive look-out for further funding opportunities Increasing number of professionals knowledgeable and

devoted to OER at institutions but also in umbrella organizations like EADTU, ICDE and COL

Inflow in national bodies and governments Range of consultations with EC bodies, programmes,

stakeholders meetings, Commissioner’s Cabinet Recognition ODL as a special branch in OCW Consortium

Page 12: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL … Achievements [3]

Widespread dissemination Press, radio, television, blogs, etc: foregrounding

members Forums, conferences, seminars / national, European and

global / R&D, policy, good practice Specific responsibility for dissemination among EADTU

members

Page 13: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

ICDE: Global OER Task Force

ICDE = International Council for open and Distance Education / Membership includes for example: UK OU, FernUni, UOC, OUNL, and many other HE institutions around the world

ICDE has an OER Task Force, with UNESCO involved.

> Kick-off Meeting Nov. 2006 at UNESCO / Paris

> SCOP Meeting June 2007 at OUNL / Heerlen devoted to: “OER as an instrument for achieving Education for All”

> SCOP Meeting Oct. 2008 at STVU / Shanghai, embracing the Final Report of the Task Force

Page 14: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

ICDE OER TF Participants

Fred Mulder (Chair), OUNL / Chair PC SCOP 2007 & EADTU TF Nick Allen, University of Maryland University College Susan D'Antoni, IIEP / UNESCO Stuart Hamilton, Open Universities Australia Helmut Hoyer, FernUni in Hagen / Acting ICDE President < 2008 Sally Johnstone, Winona State University Fredric M. Litto, President of ABED, Brazil / ICDE Exec. ≥ 2008 Bernard Loing, ICDE Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Frits Pannekoek, Athabasca University / ICDE President ≥ 2008 Paulina Pannen, SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, Indonesia Barney Pityana, UNISA / ACDE President < 2008 / ICDE Exec. ≥ 2008 Reidar Roll, Secretary General ICDE (< Spring 2007) Tarek Shawki, Section IS and ICT in Education / UNESCO Atwi Suparman, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia David Vincent, UK OU / EADTU President

Page 15: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

ICDE OER TF Final Report: Conclusions 1 - 5

1. Primary question: ‘How can OER contribute in responding to the ‘Education for all’ UNESCO policy, to capacity building and to widening participation & access?’

2. Secondary question: ‘What role is there for OER in developing / strengthening a knowledge-based society?’

3. Connecting ODL universities characteristics to the OER concept promises to offer a most powerful line of action in society regarding both questions (primary / secondary).

4. ‘Open’ is not equal to ‘free’.

5. Keep OER away from a fundamentalist approach or a dogmatic view.

Page 16: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

ICDE OER TF Final Report: Conclusions 6 - 10

6. Diversity is crucial when considering OER opportunities regarding target groups, goals & ambitions, development state, national systems, scale & scope, content share, etc.

7. Because of this, international prioritization is difficult; should be done at institutional and at most national level.

8. ‘Knowledge is a public good’ requires public funding.

9. Sustainability is not for granted and depends on a change in funding schemes.

10. It is necessary to explore the potential and added value of public-private collaborations and partnerships.

Through Recommendations into Action …

Page 17: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Beyond current MORIL: towards valorisation

Supplemental Hewlett Foundation Grant for 2008-2009

May 2008 at UK OU: OER Strategy Implementation Seminar for European Open and Distance Learning Universities

Oct. 2008 at KUL: OER Strategy Development Seminar for regular universities and their associations in Europe

Jan.-Feb. 2009 at UNESCO, Paris: OER Capacity Building Seminar for Institutions at other continents, linking with UNESCO, ICDE, the Ibero-American AIESAD, the African ACDE, the Asian AAOU, Hewlett Foundation, & others)

Launched at UNESCO 2009: MORIL-OER Portal, a central referatory portal, the gateway to the repository portals of the MORIL partners

Page 18: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Impressions OER Seminar Milton Keynes (May 2008)

OER Strategy Implementation European Open and Distance

Learning Universities

Page 19: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

MORIL Referatory Portal

Potential users must have free and easy access on the Internet to MORIL. For this purpose both a central referatory portal will be installed at EADTU level and repository portals at the level of the partner institutions.

The main function of the central portal is to provide a clear overview of and general information about the supply of OER learning materials in various languages based on the ODL approach in the European context.

The second function is to redirect potential users to the individual institutions being the actual providers of the OER learning materials.

Page 20: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Priority issues (1-6) for

Developed countries

Priority issues (1-6) for

Developing countriesAwareness raising and promotion Awareness raising and promotion

Communities and networking Capacity development

Sustainability Communities and networking

Quality Assurance Technology tools

Copyright and licensing Learning support services

Capacity development Research

UNESCO Document‘OER: the Way Forward’

Page 21: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

#1 Priority issue forODL Universities

Sustainability (Business Model)

Both UK OU and OUNL are in the process of trying to resolve their strategic dilemma of full conversion to OER as a

follow-up of their initiatives OpenLearn and OpenER.

--- versus ---Anadolu University in Turkey now is ‘champion’ with their

decision as of 2008 to implement a comprehensive OER strategy. They expect to receive enough revenue from

student fees (yet!), certification for third parties, OER development for third parties, and other spinoffs.

Page 22: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Epilogue … quote 1

“Our success in the knowledge economy hinges to a large extent on upgrading the quality of, and enhancing the

access to, education. One of the most effective ways of achieving this would be to stimulate the development and dissemination of quality Open Access (OA) materials and Open Educational Resources (OER) through broadband

Internet connectivity. This would facilitate easy and widespread access to high quality educational

resources and drastically improve the teaching paradigm for all our students.”

Page 23: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Epilogue … quote 2

“A set of key institutions should be selected and experts representing diverse knowledge areas like agriculture,

engineering, medicine, arts, humanities, science, education, etcetera should be asked to develop

standards-based content, which can be customized to diverse user needs. This should be made available not

only to Indian institutions but also for global use.”

Page 24: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Epilogue … quote 3

“The content in the repositories should be multimedia, interactive and available in different regional languages.

These projects should cover a wide range of subjects mentioned above. To speed up the creation, adaptation,

and utilization of OER, it is necessary to launch a ‘National E-content and Curriculum Initiative’.”

Page 25: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Epilogue …

These are recommendations from the ’Report to the Nation 2007’ published by the National Knowledge Commission

(NKC) in India, a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister. NKC operates since October 2005 and the follow-up to their reports has shown laudable support from the

government by adopting its recommendations and providing appropriate funding. The NKC Agenda places

high priority on education as a central instrument for achieving rapid and inclusive growth with specific emphasis on expansion, excellence and equity.

--- Does India show the way? ---

Page 26: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Thank you …

Thanks for his input to:

Kees-Jan van Dorp (Project Manager MORIL)

Contact

[email protected]

[email protected]

EADTUOER Strategy Development Seminar, K.U. Leuven, Oct. 28-29, 2008

Page 27: European OER Initiatives in the Global OER Arena

Confucius about Learning …

“I once spent all day thinking without taking food

and all night thinking without going to bed,

but I found that I gained nothing from it.

It would have been better for me

to have spent the time in learning”

--- Confucius (551-479 BC) ---

Heading for the M-2009 World Conference …(23rd ICDE + EADTU) on 7-10 June, Maastricht

(Sam Pitroda, Chair NKC-India gives a Keynote …) www.ou.nl/icde2009