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
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
OER Gobal Movement
pioneered by MIT
MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) Initiative (2001)
All course materials freely available via the Internet for any noncommercial 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”
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OCW is a Web-based publishing venture,
not teaching at a distance …
(Charles Vest, Former MIT President)
OER Gobal Movement
carried by Hewlett Foundation
and UNESCO
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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)
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 …
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:
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)
MORIL … Mission
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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 OERbased 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
MORIL … Goals
Develop and offer new generation OER learning materials
in a Lifelong Open and Flexible learning environment
 Learning materials for independent self-study (learnercentred 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
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
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
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
ICDE: Global OER Task Force
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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
ICDE OER TF Participants
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Fred Mulder (Chair), OUNL / Chair PC SCOP 2007 & EADTU TF
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Nick Allen, University of Maryland University College
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Susan D'Antoni, IIEP / UNESCO
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Stuart Hamilton, Open Universities Australia
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Helmut Hoyer, FernUni in Hagen / Acting ICDE President < 2008
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Sally Johnstone, Winona State University
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Fredric M. Litto, President of ABED, Brazil / ICDE Exec. ≥ 2008
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Bernard Loing, ICDE Permanent Delegate to UNESCO
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Frits Pannekoek, Athabasca University / ICDE President ≥ 2008
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Paulina Pannen, SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, Indonesia
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Barney Pityana, UNISA / ACDE President < 2008 / ICDE Exec. ≥ 2008
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Reidar Roll, Secretary General ICDE (< Spring 2007)
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Tarek Shawki, Section IS and ICT in Education / UNESCO
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Atwi Suparman, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia
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David Vincent, UK OU / EADTU President
ICDE OER TF Final Report:
Conclusions 1 - 5
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Primary question: ‘How can OER contribute in
responding to the ‘Education for all’ UNESCO policy, to
capacity building and to widening participation & access?’
Secondary question: ‘What role is there for OER in
developing / strengthening a knowledge-based society?’
Connecting ODL universities characteristics to the OER
concept promises to offer a most powerful line of action in
society regarding both questions (primary / secondary).
‘Open’ is not equal to ‘free’.
Keep OER away from a fundamentalist approach or a
dogmatic view.
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 …
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
Impressions OER Seminar
Milton Keynes (May 2008)
OER Strategy Implementation
European Open and Distance
Learning Universities
MORIL Referatory Portal
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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.
UNESCO Document
‘OER: the Way Forward’
Priority issues (1-6) for
Developed countries
Priority issues (1-6) for
Developing countries
Awareness 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
#1 Priority issue for
ODL 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.
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.”
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.”
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’.”
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 followup 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? ---
Thank you …
Thanks for his input to:
Kees-Jan van Dorp (Project Manager MORIL)
Contact
fred.mulder@ou.nl
kees-jan.vandorp@eadtu.nl
EADTU
OER Strategy Development Seminar, K.U. Leuven, Oct. 28-29, 2008
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