Tag Archives: UNESCO

Head of Moscow Institute of Open Education Wins Prize

Alexei Semenov, Rector of the Moscow Institute of Open Education in Russia, has won the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa prize from UNESCO. The prize is $25,000. From the announcement:

Under the leadership of Professor Alexei Semenov, the Moscow Institute of Open Education has provided in-service training to about 30,000 teachers annually for the past 16 years. Prof. Semenov has developed exemplary programmes to enable teachers to include ICT in their work, as well as textbooks and teacher guides used widely in the Russian Federation and other countries.

OER Dialogue Feb – Mar 2009

Stephen Downes is reporting that UNESCO has published the results of ongoing discussion about OER. The document is meant to cover from Feb. 9 – Mar. 9 2009. From the introduction:

The community periodically holds discussions on high-interest topics. During an earlier discussion (in June 2008), it was suggested that there should be a discussion devoted to access to OER. It should consider access very broadly, but have a focus on access issues specific to less resourced environments.

UNESCO OER at Cambridge ODL

Catriona Savage has posted the slides for the UNESCO OER presentation at the Cambridge ODL Conference 2009.

UNESCO Releases OER Document

Several Twitter users have pointed out that UNESCO has released its publication Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace. The publication is available online freely, along with a print edition. The online version was not available at the time of posting. From the announcement:

The background papers and reports from the first three years of discussions are now available in print. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace provides an overview of the first steps of this exciting new development: it captures the conversations between leaders of some of the first OER projects,and documents early debates on the issues that continue to challenge the movement. The publication will provide food for thought for all those intrigued by OER – its promise and its progress.

OER Conference in Poland

Jarosław Lipszyc has organized an OER conference in Poland on April 23 in Warsaw. Susan D’Antoni of UNESCO, and Rich Baraniuk of Connexions, will be keynote speakers. Of note, the Republic of Poland’s equivalent of the Chair of Parliament will be in attendence.

United Nations Launches World Digital Library

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus is reporting that the United Nations has launched the World Digital Library. The project is meant to gather materials out of copyright from across the world. From the article:

The site, four years in the making, brings together historical manuscripts along with secondary literature describing them—translated into seven different languages. The library includes scanned documents from 27 libraries in 19 countries so far, including a manuscript from ancient Japan that is believed to be the first novel ever.

Brunei Receives High Marks for Free Education

Azlan Othman at the Borneo Bulletin is reporting that Brunei has received high marks from UNESCO. UNESCO’s findings did note that a gender disparity still exists in some subjects for Brunei students, as well as others from East Asian and Pacific nations. From the article:

UNESCO said East Asia and the Pacific accounted for nearly 13 per cent of the world’s out-of-school population in 2006, equivalent to 9.5 million non-enrolled children – an increase of 3.5 million since 1999. It added that 75 million children of primary school age were not in school throughout the world.

Unesco releases on OER experiences

UNESCO has just released historic publications focus on OER experiences and dialogues around the world. First, the fruit of the OER Community collective reflection in the initial IIEP forum held over a 6-week period in late 2005 has been published in print form as Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace.  It has been released in print as a contribution to the history of the OER movement, and to make the content available to those who may have difficulty consulting the web site

The publication is available through UNESCO Publishing Significantly. This is the first UNESCO publication released with a Creative Commons license.

Second, the current issue of Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning is a special issue on Open Educational Resources.  The issue is intended to provide an introduction to the emerging OER movement and its implications for education systems and institutions, educators and learners.  The articles describe a range of initiatives and issues, and articulate the vision of some of the most committed and passionate champions of Open Educational Resources. Routledge, Open Learning’s publisher, has agreed to make this particular issue of the journal freely accessible to all, in recognition of its open theme and the importance of the issues involved

Feedback on the ongoing UNESCO’s Discussion on Access2OER

Li’s Workblog offers feedback on the first week of UNESCO’s discussion on Access2OER. The discussion, which started on February 9, extends until February 27. Excerpt:

The first week’s discussion focuses on identifying and classifying the main barriers in accessing OER. A range of issues have been mentioned so far, including access in terms of:

  • ability and skills; (Does the end user have the right skills to access?)
  • file formats; (Are the file formats accessible?)
  • local policy / attitude; (Do attitudes or policies pose barriers to using OER?)
  • languages; (How well does the user speak the language of the OER?)
  • disability; (Does the OER meet WAI accessibility criteria?)
  • licensing; (Is the licensing suitable / CC?)
  • awareness; (Lack of awareness is a barrier to OER.)
  • discovery; (If the OER is hidden, not searchable, not indexed, it’s hard to find.)
  • infrastructure; (Lack of power/computers makes access hard.)
  • internet connectivity / bandwidth; (Slow connections pose a barrier to access.)

In the second and third weeks, participants are invited to share their experiences in working around these issues and to discuss possible solutions. For further information on Access2OER and participation in the discussion, please visit http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org/index.php?title=Access2OER.

UNESCO launches new discussion on accessing OERs (February 9-27)

The UNESCO Open Education Community announced the launching of a new discussion dwelling on the topic of access to OERs. The discussion, which is open to all, will be held from February 9-27, 2009:

The discussion will be facilitated by Bjoern Hassler of Cambridge University’s Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies.UNESCO’s international Community on Open Educational Resources has been active since 2005. It connects over 700 individuals in 105 countries to share information and discuss issues surrounding the production and use of Open Educational Resources – web-based materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research. UNESCO’s work on Open Educational Resources is generously supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.