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Lifelong learning is key to overcoming global challenges and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
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If we want to solve the world’s most pressing challenges, knowledge must be open. If we are going to solve the UN SDGs – we need more reuse, more sharing and more adaptation of quality OERs.
Participants to the high-level dialogue included Germany’s Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), OER Africa, the SDG Academy at UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and UNICEF.
The Dialogue highlighted how the UNESCO Recommendation on OER can guide the establishment of digital ecosystems needed for the sharing of knowledge through high quality open educational resources and platforms.
Moira de Roche, Vice President of IFIP, stressed the importance of sharing best practices and quality resources, stating that the overall goal of the OER Recommendation is to implement SDG4 and build a people-centred, inclusive, and development-centred information society.
The WSIS Action Line session on E-learning emphasized the importance of capacity development initiatives to foster better understanding on the potential of OERs, technical expertise, policy integration, as well as programme planning and oversight.
Dr Lisa Petrides, CEO of ISKME highlighted the solutions to inclusive and accessible platforms stressing that access to high quality and multilingual content, multi-mode of engagement, as well as readily available framework for quality and standards alignment, are the key solutions.
International cooperation in the creation of content, capacity and infrastructure was underscored as a further key feature for the development of OER-based platforms. According to Neil Butcher, OER Strategist at OER Africa, StoryWeaver and African storybook thrive on the collaborative efforts of parents, teachers, caregivers and librarian to write and translate stories. African stories were translated into 21 languages including African.
The UNICEF Report ‘Pulse Check for Digital Learning”, presented by its Education Specialist Ms Nora Shabani, underscores key challenges and opportunities for digital learning platforms and content, digital literacy, and holistic learning opportunities within and beyond classrooms. According to the report, only 22% of digital learning platforms contained features for accessibility to children with disabilities, while on a more positive note, 85% of platforms were mobile-friendly and ran on a basic smartphone, and most digital learning platforms (84%) offer content in national languages.
In a national workshop organized by the Délégation générale Wallonie-Bruxelles à Genève – Mission permanente de Belgique on “Une éducation résiliente à l’ère du numérique” (Resilient education in the digital age), UNESCO showed how digital education is at the center of the measures recommended to Member States and institutions by the Recommendation on OER, with a focus on initiatives related to capacity building.
The UNESCO OER Recommendation provides guidance on the development of robust digital ecosystems for education, emphasizing the importance of international collaboration for content, capacity and infrastructure. The OER Dynamic Coalition act as a platform to facilitate partnerships and sharing of information and experience.
Following the adoption of the UNESCO OER Recommendation by Member States at the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2019, the OER Dynamic Coalition was formed with the goal to assisting governments in implementing the OER Recommendation by promoting and reinforcing international and regional cooperation among all stakeholders in the first four areas of the UNESCO OER Recommendation.
The UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT-CFT) OER Network was created in 2013 to assist Member States in their efforts to contextualize the ICT Competency Framework. It aims to support the achievement of national objectives by developing teacher training materials based on OER and implement teacher training exercises based on these materials.
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