OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 2014

Tuesday 9:00-10:30 (1), Darwin Suite

Type: Short paper

Theme: Building and linking communities of open practice

Authors

Ebba Ossiannilsson, Lund University, Sweden
Tore Hoel, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway

Abstract

Open Educational Resources (OER) are discussed widely on a global, European and even Nordic level. The UNESCO OER Declaration shows the importance of Open Educational Resources and gives recommendations to governments and institutions around the globe. The European Union launched in autumn 2013 a large-scale initiative on Opening Up Education. These developments have been the starting point for a Nordic initiative in promoting and utilising OER in the Nordic countries with a focus on creating a strong base for OER and Open Educational Practices (OEP) amongst the Nordic countries and in the Nordic region, also with a global outreach in mind. The Nordic countries have a potential to become a forerunner in OEP and the use of OER in Europe.

The Nordic countries share many values related to education and technology development and use. The political and governmental institutions are quite similar; and there is a tradition of cooperation, exchange of knowledge and solutions between the countries. To focus on a relatively homogeneous region, which shares many basic values allows building knowledge and coming up with specific recommendations that can be useful for policy makers at different levels, be implemented in policies and practice, and used to form new co-operations. OER could potentially be a change and an innovation agent in schools, as well as in universities, vocational and adult education. Having OER as a scope allows using one strong prism to reflect crossroads the educational system has to navigate in the Nordic countries.

This Nordic OER initiative financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers aims to work for awareness, knowledge building, networking and creating an arena for dissemination of OER and openness in education. The foundation for the project is to establish a ground for Nordic and global collaboration. Open approaches are widely used in the Nordic countries, but there is a lack of awareness about OER and no policies are in place. Furthermore, there are few Nordic collaborative projects in this area and a lack of global collaboration. A position paper has been agreed among the Nordic partners where goals, objectives, actions, recommendations and barriers are stated. More exactly the project will aim for:

? Awareness building
? Create a Nordic network
? Explore, transformative capacity, innovation potentials, cost efficiency and quality, open and flexible learning opportunities
? Help institutions positioning OER in their strategies
? Cross border and cross cultural collaboration
? Good practice, policy building and implementation
? Small languages and cultures
? Collaboration with the Boldic OER project, an OER project in the Baltic countries also financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers

Furthermore the project strategically will work for establishing the Nordic OER Community of individuals representing stakeholders and institutions. This Community is aiming to support uptake, adoption and collaboration around OER and to contribute to a strong OER movement within the Nordic countries with an outreach globally.

References

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