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Initiative BackgroundIntroduction

At the heart of the movement towards Open Educational Resources is the simple and powerful idea that

the worlds knowledge is a public good and that technology in general and the Worldwide Web in

particular provide an opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse it (Smith, M.S. and Casserly,C.M. 2006. The promise of Open Educational Resources. Change, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 8-17)

The term Open Education Resources(OER) was first adopted at UNESCOs 2002 Forum on

the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries funded by the

Hewlett Foundation.

Open Education Resources (OER) are defined as:

materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use

for teaching, learning and research

OER can be deposited (by donation) by a variety of sources to one or more of the many OER

repositories, which are mainly online.

UNESCO has taken a leadership role in making countries aware of the potential of OER. The

online OER Community, with over 900 members from 109 countries, already links developing

and developed countries to share information and experiences across the wide spectrum of OER

development and support.

At the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New Dynamics of Higher Education

and Research For Societal Change and Development (UNESCO, Paris, 5 8 July 2009) it was

communicated that ODL approaches and ICTs present opportunities to widen access to quality

education, particularly when Open Educational Resources are readily shared by many countriesand higher education institutions (Communiqu, 8 July 2009).

Communiqu (English)

Communiqu (French)

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has made the use of OER an important component in all

aspects of their work. COL has taken a holistic and process-oriented approach to

OER, emphasising the delivery of products - mostly in the form of course materials. Examples

of COL's OER work areOER for Open Schooling, materials developed through theVirtual

University of the Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC)and theCommonwealth

Computer Navigators' Certificate (CCNC), to name a few. COL has also adoptedanOER policy (http://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspx) and releases its own

materials under the most feasible open license, which includes the Creative Commons

Attribution Share-Alike license (see:https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/28384)

Despite the progress generated by this activity within the OER community, which has indeed

contributed to the wider use of OER, the OER concept is still not widely known and

understood, especially by policy makers and institutional managers. Moreover, it is probable

http://oerworkshop.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/3/4/4134458/unesco_2009_communique_english.pdfhttp://oerworkshop.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/3/4/4134458/unesco_2009_communique_french.pdfhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/education/Pages/openSchooling.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/education/Pages/openSchooling.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/education/Pages/openSchooling.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxandhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxandhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxandhttps://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/28384https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/28384https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/28384https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/28384http://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxandhttp://www.col.org/progServ/policy/Pages/oer.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/livelihoods/Pages/eLearning.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/Pages/VUSSC.aspxhttp://www.col.org/progServ/programmes/education/Pages/openSchooling.aspxhttp://oerworkshop.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/3/4/4134458/unesco_2009_communique_french.pdfhttp://oerworkshop.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/3/4/4134458/unesco_2009_communique_english.pdf

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that the flow of OER is currently occurring mainly in one direction from the north to the

south. Despite some emerging initiatives OER are still a marginal and donor-driven

phenomenon in most of the developing world (Kanwar, Balasubramanian & Umar, 2009). This

presents the danger that a potentially important development is perceived as a manifestation of

neo-colonialism before it has had a chance to embed itself in Africa and other developing

countries.

In 2010, UNESCO, in collaboration with COL launched the initiative: Taking OER beyond the

OER Community: Policy and Capacity 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 focuses in the first instance on higher education institutions universities

located in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and is being implemented as part of a Joint Work Plan

Agreement between UNESCO and COL. It builds on the results of previous and ongoing

collaboration between the two organisations. The initiative is financed through extra-budgetary

funds provided by the Government of the United States, regular programme funds from the

Division of Higher Education, UNESCO and COL.

Under this initiative seven 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://oerworkshop.weebly.com/guidelines-for-oer-in-higher-education.html).

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. COL and

UNESCO have invited comments on these Guidelines from their networks of governments,

institutions and individuals by 21 September 2011.

These guidelines will be launched at the 36th UNESCO General Conference that will take place

in October/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.

These activities all provide a solid foundation for work in 2011-2012 that will further advance

the ideal of making educational resources developed with public funds freely available for re-

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use and re-purposing, called the 'Fostering Government Support for OER' project. The key

event will be UNESCOs2012 World Open Educational Resources (OER) Conference to be held in

Paris on 20-22 June, which will be a milestone on the route to a further conference on OER and

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) scheduled for 2015 the target date for achieving

the MDGs.

At the June 2012 World OER Conference governments will be invited to adopt a statement

(referred to as the Paris statement) that will include a clear definition of open licenses and

encourage governments to support the principle that the products of publicly funded work

should carry such licenses.