UNESCO World OER Congress 2017

Quality in Open Education Matters Now!

Ljubljana (SI), October 2017 - The second international World OER Congress 2017, held 18-20 September, led to the approval of the Ljubljana OER Action Plan and a revival of the quality debate. Experts and national delegates from 111 countries adopted the 41 recommended actions by acclamation. All United Nations' Member States are urged to mainstream open-licensed resources building knowledge societies and to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Quality Education. 

A plenary panel of the UNESCO and ICDE Chairs in OER emphasized the need to take on the momentum. "We were pleased and excited to follow up the quality focus in open education with online discussions and a dedicated MOOC", beams Christian M. Stracke, ICDE Chair in OER from the Welten Institute of the Open University of the Netherlands.

A first post-Congress event is the online discussion on "How to Ensure Quality in Open Education", 27 October 2017 from 12:00-13:00 CEST. It will be moderated by Christian M. Stracke, coordinator of the European initiative MOOQ for the Quality of Open Education, and facilitated by the European platform Open Education Europe (OEE).

The next follow-up highlight will be the massive open online course (MOOC) on the "Quality in Open Education" (QOE): It will take place in April 2018, and feature the participation of leading international experts from all continents. A first announcement and introduction will be given during the OEE online discussion by Christian M. Stracke, who has designed and will chair the MOOC, which is co-organized by MOOQ and the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE).