OER on the agenda – globally, in Europe, and in the Nordic countries

Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: Rethinking education is not just of question of money: whilst it is true that we need to invest more in education and training, it is clear that education systems also need to modernise and be more flexible in how they operate to respond to the real needs of today's society. Europe will only resume sustained growth by producing highly skilled and versatile people who can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship. Efficient and well-targeted investment is fundamental to this, but we will not achieve our objectives by reducing education budgets.

Open Educational Resources are discussed widely on a global, European and even Nordic level. UNESCO, which has coined the term Open Educational Resources (OER) some 10 years ago, published in June 2012 a global agenda for OER, the Paris Declaration (adopted by OER World Congress). The Declaration shows the importance of Open Educational Resources and gives recommendations to governments and institutions around the globe. The European Union has started a large-scale initiative on “Opening Up Education” and the Cyprus EU Presidency in cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research organises a Ministerial Conference on “Opening up education through technologies” in Oslo in beginning of December. The Ministerial Conference "Opening up education through technologies: Towards a more systemic use for a smart, social and sustainable growth in Europe" to be held in Oslo, Norway on 9-11 December 2012. The conference will constitute a unique opportunity to capture the key issues that matter for a systemic approach to educational innovations which facilitate quality 21st century education for all. Our goal is to dedicate particular attention on how education and training systems can fully reap the benefits of modern technologies so as to create innovative ways of accessing learning content, building creative learning environments and fostering virtual learning communities

Towards a Nordic Alliance for Open Education 

These developments have been the starting point for a Nordic initiative on promoting and utilizing Open Education in the Nordic countries with a focus on creating a strong base for OER and Open Educational Practices (OEP) amongst the Nordic countries and in the Nordic region, also with a global outreach in mind. The Nordic countries have the potential to become a forerunner in OEP and the use of OER activities in Europe. The Nordic OER Alliance is a network of individuals representing stakeholders and institutions supporting uptake, adoption and collaboration around Open Education Resources. The Alliance will have a 3 - 5 year perspective, and is now planning actions to sustain a broad awareness, knowledge building and networking platform. The main objectives of the group are:

1. To contribute in utilizing OER for educational development in the Nordic countries and to enable and support collaborative actions in these countries
   
2. To contribute to global educational development
   
3. To support the implementation of the Paris OER Declaration and future EU OER initiatives in the Nordic countries
   
4. To analyse opportunities and barriers for a successful implementation of the Paris Declaration as well as current EU strategies in order to provide guidance for policy makers in governments, institutions and organisations
   
5. To build and exchange knowledge on OER and OEP in the Nordic Region as a basis for good practices, inspiration for policy building and policy implementation
   
   
   
   
   
   

The Nordic OER Alliance aims at contributing to:

1. Enabling and supporting collaborative actions
   
2. Analysing opportunities and barriers for a successful implementation of the different initiatives such as the UNESCO Paris Declaration in order to be a relevant and strong partner for dialogue and advise for policy makers in governments, institutions and organisations
   
3. Creating a knowledge resource and an awareness network for advise on OER and OEP policy building and policy implementation
   Feedback on these objectives is welcome! We will do our outmost to consult with you in an open way in the spirit of Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Processes.
   

Future Vision

In 2017, Open Education in the Nordic countries has reformed education towards collaboration, innovation and global responsibility. The key aspects are:

Contact

The Nordic OER Alliance will shortly establish a web presence. Contacts persons in this initial phase are Jan M. Pawlowski (jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi) and Tore Hoel (tore.hoel@hioa.no).

Rethinking Education calls for a fundamental shift in education

Promoting OERs>>> Rethinking Education strategy

The Commission presents new Rethinking Education strategy for Europe


http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1233_en.htm

From the Press-release it says:
To ensure that education is more relevant to the needs of students and the labour market, assessment methods need to be adapted and modernised. The use of ICT and open educational resources (OER) should be scaled-up in all learning contexts. 
--From Europa Press Releases RAPID

Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: "Rethinking education is not just of question of money: whilst it is true that we need to invest more in education and training, it is clear that education systems also need to modernise and be more flexible in how they operate to respond to the real needs of today's society. Europe will only resume sustained growth by producing highly skilled and versatile people who can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship. Efficient and well-targeted investment is fundamental to this, but we will not achieve our objectives by reducing education budgets."

Rethinking Education calls for a fundamental shift in education, with more focus on 'learning outcomes' - the knowledge, skills and competences that students acquire. Merely having spent time in education is no longer sufficient. In addition, basic literacy and numeracy still needs to be significantly improved, and entrepreneurial skills and a sense of initiative need to be developed or strengthened (see IP/12/1224 on call for stronger focus on new skills in schools).

To ensure that education is more relevant to the needs of students and the labour market, assessment methods need to be adapted and modernised. The use of ICT and open educational resources (OER) should be scaled-up in all learning contexts. Teachers need to update their own skills through regular training. The strategy also calls on Member States to strengthen links between education and employers, to bring enterprise into the classroom and to give young people a taste of employment through increased work-based learning. EU Education Ministers are also encouraged to step-up their cooperation on work-based learning at national and European level.

Other proposed measures include a new benchmark on language learning, guidelines on the assessment and development of entrepreneurship education, and an EU-level impact analysis on the use of ICT and OER in education to pave the way for a new initiative in 2013 on Opening-up Education, aiming to maximise the potential of ICT for learning.

This is a very welcomed message. Hoperfully the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practice (OEP) rapidly will develop in Europe as in most other continents already. It was 10 years since UNESCO launched the OER concept and this summer in June 2012 the Paris declaration was taken to force  and encourabe member countries to rapidly implement the use and the development of OER.

Yesterday I wrote about the Towards a Nordic Alliance for Open Educational Resources
The OER and OEP will be implemented in Europe and in the Nordic countries as well,

Time is changing. Now  the rethinking finally will start.