ALT Members respond to UNESCO consultation on OER Recommendation text

ALT value of openness illustrated by Bryan Mathers

ALT has collated a response (available here) from its Members and the ALT Open Education Special Interest Group to the UNESCO invitation to provide input for the OER Recommendation text, full details here:  https://www.oercongress.org/unesco-oer-recommendation/

Further to the adoption of Resolution 44 ‘Desirability of a standard-setting instrument on international collaboration in the field of Open Educational Resources (OER)’ at the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, a draft UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) text is currently being prepared.

This response from Members compliments ALT’s publication Open Education and OER: A Call to Action for Policy Makers.

ALT produced this call to action to highlight to education policy makers and professionals how Open Education and OER can expand inclusive and equitable access to education and lifelong learning, widen participation, and create new opportunities for the next generation of teachers and learners, preparing them to become fully engaged digital citizens.

Open Education can also promote knowledge transfer while enhancing quality and sustainability, supporting social inclusion and creating a culture of inter-institutional collaboration and sharing.

One of ALT’s three strategic aims is to increase the impact of Learning Technology for the wider community and we are issuing this call to action for policy makers to mandate that publicly funded educational resources are released under open licence to ensure that they reside in the public domain and are freely and openly available to all.

This will be of wide benefit, but in particular will enable education providers and learning technology professionals to:

  • Keep up to date with the rapid pace of technological innovation

  • Develop critical, informed approaches to the implementation of Learning Technology and the impact on learners

  • Scale up knowledge sharing and its benefits across sectors.

​You can download the full document via ALT's Open Access Repository https://repository.alt.ac.uk/2425/ .

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Page last updated by mdeepwell on 1 June 2018