Fostering Governmental Support for OER Internationally
COL is spearheading an initiative to get governments worldwide to recognise officially the importance of sharing open educational resources (OER). The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation approached COL to undertake the initiative, which is being led by COL President Sir John Daniel.
Sir John is working in partnership with colleagues at COL and UNESCO to consult with governments and develop a statement that supports the principle of open access to educational materials developed with public funds. The aim is to have this statement adopted at the UNESCO World Open Educational Resources (OER) Conference in Paris in June 2012.
OER are materials that are offered freely and openly for anyone to use and adapt for teaching, learning, development and research. While OER are mainly shareable in digital formats, they can also be in print formats. In recent years, a global community of OER producers has emerged, and institutions are incorporating these resources into their teaching and learning strategies. Nevertheless, knowledge of OER and their potential is still sparse among leaders and policy makers in governments and institutions.
“Until governments actively support open access to educational materials, OER will remain outside the institutional mainstream,” explained Sir John. “The UNESCO World OER Conference provides us with an international platform for taking this important step forward in improving access to quality education.”
This new initiative, entitled, “Fostering Governmental Support for Open Educational Resources Internationally”, is an extension of the current UNESCO-COL partnership to spread awareness of the value of open content, “Taking OER beyond the OER Community”. COL’s work with OER also includes the “OER for Open Schools” initiative, the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth and the development of numerous resources including “A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources ” and “Guidelines for OER in Higher Education ”.
www.col.org/OER