Open Education Global 2022

Strengthening the OER movement for STEM education in Latin America – Using the example of Siemens Stiftung's new Centro de Recursos Educativos Abiertos (CREA)

Attendees will learn how co-construction, contextualization and a holistic approach helped in strengthening the OER movement for STEM education in Latin America. They will understand the importance of locally adapting OER content but also OER-based requirements. They’ll get to know our media portal CREA and the initiatives that stand behind it as a best practice example for OER creation, distribution and capacity building.

In focus
1. OER creation/content creation hand in hand with local experts. Local adaptation of OER-based requirements and contents in co-construction with local experts:
o TEC de Monterrey – UNESCO Chair of Open Education: The UNESCO-ICDE Chair was created in 2014 and aims to promote open access in Latin America with networks and working groups that promote the production, visibility, dissemination and mobilisation of knowledge, academic and scientific production through training practices. As experts on OER in Latin America, they have advised the Siemens Stiftung on the development of CREA and especially on OER-based requirements.
o Red STEM Latinoamérica: Initiated by Siemens Stiftung, a network of more than 95 Latin American and European institutions from different sectors – governmental, educational, civil, and private – united by the interest of offering quality and open STEM education on the continent and giving space to educational innovation.
https://www.siemens-stiftung.org/en/projects/red-stem-latinoamerica/
o STEM Education for Innovation Initiative: Combined power of Siemens Stiftung partners in Latin America to provide innovative and open education formats, including virtual seminars for teachers, digital STEM lessons, interactive climate change maps, and videos and podcasts about health and hygiene – for now, during the pandemic, and for education for sustainable development in the future. All being made available and shared on CREA.
https://www.siemens-stiftung.org/en/projects/stem-education-for-innovation/

1. Strategic and collaborative approach of strengthening the OER movement in Latin America with two lines of action:
   o theoretical: capacity building and raising awareness of OER & OEP for Latin American decision makers and educational communities (together with TEC de Monterrey). The general purpose of the project is to promote, strengthen and disseminate STEAM education through STEAM Territories, the movement of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) in Latin America. The goal: to encourage social and sustainable development, through of projects and initiatives for teachers, teachers of training institutions, decision makers, people who grant financing, RED STEM Latinoamérica and society in general. 
   https://www.oer-steam.world/
   o practical: dissemination of OER and the OER idea via the CREA portal (together with Red STEM). More details see (3)

2. Best Practice: How did CREA come about?
   CREA is the name of the new open educational resource portal for STEM education from the Siemens Stiftung International Foundation. Through its educational projects, the Siemens Stiftung supports teachers, pupils and students in Germany and Europe, Africa and Latin America. In recent years, through its regional office based in Santiago de Chile, it has formed a broad network of partners called Red STEM Latam with whom it develops projects to promote quality STEM education in the region. In this context, in early 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced children and young people to retreat to their homes and school became remote, CREA was born. Then, the member institutions of the STEM Latin America Network joined forces to share with teachers and professors quality and free material for teaching in different contexts of connectivity. Initially it started as a simple collection of resources - today CREA grows, strengthens and fosters the collaborative spirit that gave it birth. Our partners include universities, ministries, non-governmental organizations, foundations and other educational institutions in Latin America and Europe, which are constantly developing new content to be integrated into CREA.
   The platform offers teachers more than 1,300 free media (OER), introduces modern teaching and learning methodologies as well as interesting training courses for teachers.
   These teaching materials, including worksheets, interactive whiteboards and exciting games, are available under an open licence and are designed for all types of schools and educational levels. They provide a variety of engaging suggestions for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teaching, as well as elements to stimulate students' interest and learning in STEM.
   https://crea-portaldemedios.siemens-stiftung.org