Open Educational Resources as a higher education strategy for openness and social development
As higher education worldwide leans towards privatisation and universities focus on increasing their market value through commercialisation, a movement that promotes openness, free access to learning resources, and emphasises the social function of higher education is growing rapidly. Open Educational Resources (OER) are the spearhead of a broader trend towards open access to knowledge that is based on a participative and socially responsible understanding of education. In this paper, we discuss some of the main features of OER, an emerging field of interest, that will have its own little space in the next GUNI Higher Education in the World report.
A complicated-sounding acronym, OER, has been occupying the minds and blogs of those working in the field of education and technology. The OECD has written a study about it (OECD, 2007), UNESCO's International Institute of Educational Planning has been discussing it with over 600 people from 98 countries , the Hewlett Foundation has spent US$ 68 million in supporting it and a search on Google now produces 90,000 results for the term OER, or open educational resources. What is all the excitement about?
About the author
J. Philipp Schmidt
Thursday, September 13, 2007