2022-05-24 –, Salle I
The future OER Ecosystem - On building a community for OER in Europe
The European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education (ENCORE+) project (2021-2023) is an Erasmus+ funded initiative which aims to raise awareness of open education, coordinate stakeholder and support new strategies for the proliferation of OER (https://encoreproject.eu/).
Although the Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting online ‘pivot’ increased opportunities for integrating OER into education and training, general awareness of open alternatives remains low. Many educators and learners have been in crisis mode, using whatever resources they can to fulfil their needs. While this can include OER, the demands put upon practitioners makes it hard to strategise and move systematically towards meeting the five action areas of the UNESCO OER resolution.
ENCORE+ is a coordinated European approach to strengthening the value of OER as a catalyst and multiplier. The goal is to move from a series of individual OER initiatives into a European OER Ecosystem. This will be done through addressing and contributing to European and International policy priorities, stimulating innovation in businesses through learning and training, supporting the modernization and digitalization of higher education in Europe, as well as bridging non-formal & formal education by advancing recognition of open learning.
ENCORE+ has established 4 thematic circle communities for OER in Europe on the thematic focus areas of OER Technology, Quality, Innovation & Business Models and Policies. The circle communities convenes and collaborate on issues related to the circle theme. The four communities will convene for its second round of circle events in the first week of May.
This workshop aims to take the content and discussions held within the 4 thematic circle communities in ENCORE+ to the global stage. This workshop marks halfway through the project, and the ENCORE+ team will share and discuss experiences, issues and solutions found with the delegates at the conference. The stakeholders of ENCORE+ is truly global, connecting international stakeholders from academia and business together into a collaborative OER Ecosystem solving challenges of education through OER.
Workshop Description
This workshop is organised around the following discussion areas, each of which reflects a thematic focus area of ENCORE+.
In each focus area relevant results from the ENCORE+ project will be briefly presented to support an inclusive and interactive plenary discussion. Each dialogue will be moderated by a relevant expert from ENCORE+.
This will lead to a general discussion which will aim to describe specific actions that could be taken by different stakeholders in the OER ecosystem to support the future of open education in Europe.
Focus area 1: Bleeding edge technologies for OER integration
(Repositories, Artificial intelligence, Interfacing and protocols)
Focus area 2: New paradigms for OER quality
(Community based quality development for OER in Europe, Making different stakeholder perspectives visible, Key themes: Quality frameworks; recognition and credentialing)
Focus area 3: Strategies and policies for OER uptake and integration
(Strategic support for OER uptake and implementation, Future policies to support the proliferation of OEP for education and business, Catalysing adoption at the intersection between higher education and business)
Focus area 4: Innovation, Business Models & Sustainability
(The innovation potential of OER, Business model typologies, OER value propositions)
We anticipate that the proposed workshop offers great value to a range of delegates through the focus on the interactions of different stakeholders and the practical steps that can be taken, fostering the ecosystem mindset and its potential to support collaboration.
Delegates will be provided with opportunities to connect with the ENCORE+ project and its stakeholders on a continuing basis after the workshop.
Proposed speaker list:
ENCORE+: Juliane Granly, ICDE
OER Technology: Mihajela Crnko, Knowledge 4 All
Innovation & Business Models: Dr. Robert Farrow, Open University UK
Quality: Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, DHBW
Policies & Practice: TBD
Juliane Granly is the project and development manager in International Council for Open and Distance Education, ICDE, the leading international organization for open, flexible and distance learning. As project manager for ENCORE+ (https://encoreproject.eu/) she is coordinating the work on building the European OER Ecosystem. She has worked with education in a variety of countries, and has previously spent several years in East-Africa working with NGOs on inclusive and innovative education.
Juliane holds a Bachelors in Business Economics from BI Norwegian Business School and a Masters in International Business and Development from the University of London.