OEC is partnering with Moodle to develop and host an OpenEdTech Global Festival. This two day event, taking place in Barcelona, Spain, November 21-22, 2019, is targeted to builders, users, and funders of a future where education is supported by open technology infrastructure. Less a conference and more a hands on working event of sprints, hackathons, and strategy development, this event will provide a space where the open software projects, government education ministries, development organizations, academics, educational institutions and users can get to know each other, and work towards building a strong open technical infrastructure to support education in the decades ahead. For more information and to express an interest in participating, see the Open EdTech Global website.
OEC has been actively involved with the Open Education for a Better World Program (OE4BW) since January 2019. Initiated in 2018 by the UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Education and the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, OE4BW is an international online free mentoring program. It supports the development and implementation of OER pertaining to topics both with a social impact, and which address one or more UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
Thirty five (35) projects were accepted into the Year 2 of the program (January – July 2019). Project leaders were collectively supervised by 41 experienced mentors. Projects were divided into three regional geographic hubs. Here, coordinators were appointed to help manage projects, mentors and administrative processes in different countries around the world. Igor Lesko, from OEC, was involved in a hub coordinating capacity guiding 12 projects and mentors from Africa, Europe and Asia. This process included regular tracking of progress with project leaders and mentors, providing advice and input into projects and acting as a liaison between project leaders, mentors and the program initiators in Slovenia. Hub coordinators also assisted program initiators to develop and manage the final OE4BW event program in Vipava, Slovenia this past July 1 – 4, 2019. Project leaders at OE4BW showcased their online course and resource creation initiatives, and received feedback aimed to support projects.
Planning for the third phase of the program in 2020 is currently underway. More information will be available in November 2019. For more information about the program, projects, and the final event in Vipava, visit the OE4BW website.
OEC is partnering with Centrum Cyfrowe and SPARC to develop and host the Open Policy Forum. This forum is for participants who are involved with, or planning to create, an open policy for their institution, region or country. Starting with a two day workshop in Warsaw Poland, participants will then work on their policy over the next six months culminating in presenting achievements during Open Education Week in March 2020. For more information see the Open Policy Forum website.
On May 27 – 28, 2019, OEC represented the Open Educational Consortium and its members at the Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts reviewing the UNESCO Draft Recommendation on Open Educational Resources at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. UNESCO hosted this convening to make any necessary revisions or additions required for consensus adoption. Learn more about OEC’s involvement in the ED Insight.