Presentation about how Open Education Consortium advances openness in education around the world. Presentation was made at OER: Impact and Outcomes Conference, 8-9 December 2014, Paris, France (http://www.college-etudesmondiales.org/fr/content/conf-open-educational-resources-impact-outcomes)

1. Open Education Consortium – advancing
openness in education worldwide
Presentation at OER: Impact and Outcomes Conference, 8-9
December 2014, Paris, France
igorlesko@oeconsortium.org
Twitter: @igor_lesko
Unless otherwise noted, Open Education Consortium – advancing openness in education worldwide
by Igor Lesko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2. Nelson Mandela
(1918-2013)
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to
change the world.”

3. Worldwide Participation in Higher Education is
Expected to Grow ~60% by 2025…
2011 2025
Worldwide Participants in Tertiary
Education, 2011 and 2025 Projected
In order to
accommodate these
98 million new
students, four major
universities of
30,000+ students
would need to open
every week for the
next 15 years
Source: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/a-different-world/2001128.article; OECD indicators Education
at a Glance 2012 and Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution, UNESCO 2009
165M
263M

4. Rising Cost of Education/Decreasing Public
Funding
By mrchrisadams (CCBY-NC)
By marsmet471 (CCBY-NC-SA)

5. However…
Since 2001 Advancements through:
- OER Movement
- OA Movement
- Open Education Movement
- and others…
Coupled with developments in ICTs – access to resources anytime,
anywhere

6. However…
Changing realities and Creating opportunities for innovations in
Teaching & Learning, new forms of assessment/validation of learning,
improved quality, retention and more...
Not just in formal higher education
- Life-long learners
- Unemployed/working professionals
- Self-learners

7. Opening up Education firmly on the agendas of
International Organizations
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1389115469384&uri=CELEX:52
013DC0654
http://goo.gl/OVHiF
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communicati
on-and-information/access-to-
knowledge/open-educational-
resources/implementing-the-paris-oer-
declaration/
http://goo.gl/44G4T
http://www.francophonie.org/

8. …and Governments
http://conference.ocwconsortium.org/
2014/ai1ec_event/openingupslovenia/
?instance_id=446
& http://www.ouslovenia.net/
www.openscot.net
http://www.che.ac.za/media_and_publications/legislati
on/white-paper-post-school-education-and-training (p.
54).
http://goo.gl/2LBFD
http://www.thegauntlet.ca/story/province-offers
money-open-textbookshttp://www.universites-numeriques.fr/ocw/index.html

10. Name Change: OCWC - OEC

11. What is Open Education?
Open education encompasses resources, tools and practices that
employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access
and effectiveness worldwide.
Open Education combines the traditions of knowledge sharing and
creation with 21st century technology to create a vast pool of openly
shared educational resources, while harnessing today’s collaborative
spirit to develop educational approaches that are more responsive to
learner’s needs.
http://www.oeconsortium.org/about-oec/

12. Who We Are
The Open Education Consortium is a worldwide community of hundreds of
higher education institutions and associated organizations committed to
advancing open education and its impact on global education
http://www.oeconsortium.org/about-oec/

14. Members in France

15. More than 30 000 OER/OCW produced by OEC members
since 2006
http://www.oeconsortium.org/courses/

16. Why Focusing on opening up access to content as
OER/OCW?
OER = important foundational block upon which innovations can be
built

17. Examples of Impact
User Feedback Survey
Source: OCWC Feedback Survey March 2011 - May 2013
Responses received from 1773 respondents (90 countries). Nearly 50% of respondents
were students undergoing secondary or university-level education. Working professionals
represented 22% of all respondents.
http://www.oeconsortium.org/projects/surveyresults/

18. Examples of Impact
FGV Online Open & Free Courses
Source: OCWC – FGV Online Survey March 2013
• Initiated in 2008: 43 open courses
• Research project (OCWC – FGV Online) with respondents having completed courses between
2008-2012
• 7671 responses received

19. Examples of Impact
Impact of Openness on Institutions
What we do online is starting to be used in the classroom on campus. For the first time,
professors are starting to think about concepts like flipping the classroom and applying it. We
want to better use online materials in our regular Education and we want to offer our program
to lifelong learners (LLL) (Anka Mulder, TU Delft).
OCW was definitely a huge paradigm shift. In fact it is part of our mission to share what we
have produced with the rest of the world. (Shigeru Miyagawa, MIT).
People who have contributed to the open content have benefitted themselves by being visible
on an international platform. Also the Higher Education Commission recommends that, in case
of shortage of qualified manpower, institutions should use the VUP courses to supplement
their offerings. For example, there is one institution that uses 14 VUP courses in their Bachelor
program (Naveed Malik, VUP).
http://www.oeconsortium.org/projects/impact-of-openness-on-institutions/

20. Advocacy and Awarennes: Open Education Week 2015
9-13 March, 2015
Call for Participation is open: http://www.openeducationweek.org/
CFP closes: 10 February 2015

21. Advocacy and Awarennes: Open Education Global
Conference 2015
22-24 April, 2015
Call for Proposals is open: http://conference.oeconsortium.org/2015/
Deadline: 10 December 2014

22. Special Projects:
• Open Education Information Center:
– Central place for information on open education including links to resources,
how-tos, reports, discussion areas, calendar of open education events worldwide
and more (to be launched in January).
• Open Education Professional Directory
– A searchable index of experienced professionals in open education.
• OpenMOOCs – OECx through partnership with edX (Opportunities
for OEC members)
– Conditions: MOOCs must be created from exiting open content, openly licensed
and downloadable from institutional websites. Objective to see how OER can be
used to create MOOCs more efficiently. Webinars will be run next year on this
topic. Next series of MOOCs (2015) - around specific topic areas such as
teacher training.

23. Open Education Professional Directory
http://www.oeconsortium.org/directory/

24. OpenMOOCs - OECx
https://www.edx.org/school/oecx

25. Consultancies
OER Professional Fellows
• The US State Department and the Arab League partnered to form the Open Book
project
• Objectives: to localize OER for the MENA region and encourage Arab language OER
production
• OEC one of the organizations asked to help coordinate and participate in the Project.
OER Professional Fellows exchange, set up in support of the Project,
involves 3 phases:
Phase 1: 14 professors and administrators from across the MENA region
selected to participate in a 3-week visit to the US to learn about OER and
participated in short internships. OEC coordinated the visit.

26. Consultancies
OER Professional Fellows
Following return to their countries participants took various steps to
promote OER in their countries – workshops, trainings, conference
presentations or creating national OER plans.
Phase 2: OER professionals (2 out of 3 affiliated with OEC) going to the MENA
region for meetings with ALESCO, universities, educators and ministries to
promote participation in open education. Workshops in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Qatar.

27. Consultancies
OER Professional Fellows
Outcome of Phase 2: Working closely with ALESCO to support their OER plan
for the region and working with various universities to help them get started
on OER. ALESCO is planning to attend Open Education Global Conference
2015 in Canada to present their OER plan.
Phase 3: OEC, Creative Commons with representatives from Saudi Arabia and
Jordan to give a workshop and discuss OER during ALESCO Forum in Dubai
(18-22 December 2014).
For more information contact Mary Lou Forward: mlforward@oeconsortium.org

28. Consultancies
Saudi Arabian eLearning professional training
OEC will be coordinating a yearlong comprehensive training program in open
and technology enhanced learning for 50 female Saudi professors and
administrators. The training will take place during face-to-face workshops in the
US and Saudi Arabia, during online webinars and will incorporate internships in the US.
For more information contact Mary Lou Forward: mlforward@oeconsortium.org
Campus Virtual de las Americas (CVA)
CVA was created by the Organization of American States (OAS) through their
Foundation Virtual Educa & collaboration with OEC. It aims to offer high quality
educational resources in Spanish (OER); develop pathways for topics of
common interest in the LA region (Admin, Safety, English, etc); offer
certifications & strengthen the Network.
For more information contact Marcela Morales: marcela@oeconsortium.org

29. Join Us
• The education landscape is rapidly changing as a result of
the digital revolution
• Education is becoming increasingly global, accessible, and
interconnected
• Open Education Consortium is at the forefront of this
movement as a truly global network for open education
• We invite you to be part of this conversation
Join us today and help shape the future of education
For more information and to become a member, visit
www.oeconsortium.org/members

30. Thank you for your attention!
igorlesko@oeconsortium.org
Twitter: @igor_lesko