[Oer-community] OER mapping - Welcome and introduction to Week 1

[Susan D'Antoni]

Dear colleagues,



It is a pleasure to be back together with old colleagues and to welcome new
colleagues to this international group.  The focus of this discussion is
tol think about and discuss whether the growing OER community could build
an “OER World Map” to present a picture of the global landscape of OER
initiatives.



This exploration of mapping OER initiatives is one of the main activities
of the UNESCO/COL Chair in OER at Athabasca University in Canada.  We work
in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair at the Open Universiteit of the
Netherlands and our collective network of partner institutions and
organizations.



_______________________________



Looking back ...



Over the past decade a global OER movement has emerged – with more and more
initiatives in more and more countries. The OER movement began with a
vision of sharing knowledge freely and openly. In a world where growing
numbers of children and adults want and need to learn, whether in formal or
informal settings, the accomplishments of the OER movement over the decade
are a contribution.



A decade of development:



*   10 years ago, the term Open Educational Resources was coined at a
UNESCO meeting …



*   7 years ago, an international OER Community was launched byUNESCO
IIEP<http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forumshome.php?queryforums_id=3>
to
raise awareness of OER and to consider some of the related issues …



*   5 years ago, the UNESCO IIEP OER Community ranked the priorities for
advancing the OER
movement<http://www.icde.org/Open+Educational+Resources+-+The+Way+Forward.9UFRzI16.ips>
–
and identified awareness raising, and community building and networking as
the most important actions …



*   5 years ago,
OECD<http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/givingknowledgeforfreetheemergenceofopeneducationalresources.htm>
reported
on a study of the scale and scope of OER at that time …



*   5 years ago, the Cape Town Open Education
Declaration<http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration>
was
released …



*   2 years ago, a UNESCO/COL Chair in OER (Athabasca
University<https://unescochair.athabascau.ca/>)
and a UNESCO Chair in OER (Open Universiteit <http://oer.unescochair-ou.nl/>)
were awarded to act as think tanks and bridge builders, working through
partnerships and networking …



*   this year in 2012, UNESCO passed the Paris OER
Declaration<http://www.unesco.org/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_EEF3C7E6694B8B91C31F5EA3340D484EF03A0100/filename/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf>
and
OECD released a Working Paper on Open Educational
Resources<http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/fulltext/5k990rjhvtlv.pdf?expires=1352570266&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=7D1A24B993239122096EFD1EA4C4C2E7>
.



In ten years, much has been accomplished.  There are many individual and
institutional OER initiatives, discussion lists, meetings, conferences,
groups, communities and networks.

__________________________________



A challenge ...



The very success of the OER movement in its growth over the decade has made
it difficult to have a comprehensive overview of the various initiatives in
institutions, countries and regions.  Sometimes it is even hard to know who
is doing what in one’s own environment.

__________________________________



Our discussion ...



Let us consider two main questions, although there will be others:



1.   Would a world map to visualize the global OER landscape be useful?
(example below created from OCWC data)



2.   Could the OER community work in collaboration to design, build and
maintain such a map?

____________________________________




To start Week 1, let’s consider the first question --


     How would a visual OER world map be useful in your own setting and
from your own perspective?



The floor is yours …


My best, Susan



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