Knowledge sharing in cyberspace
01 July 2009
UNESCO's first openly licensed publication Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace brings together the background papers and reports from the first three years of activities in the UNESCO OER community.
Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace
Publisher: UNESCO
Editors: Susan D'Antoni and Catriona Savage
Education systems today face two major
challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality.
Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of
today's knowledge-intensive societies.
Open Educational Resources (OER) offer one solution for extending
learning opportunities. The goal of the OER movement is to equalize
access to knowledge worldwide through online sharing of high quality
content. Open Educational Resources are digitalized materials offered
freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research.
Since 2005, UNESCO has been at the forefront of building awareness
about this movement by facilitating an extended conversation in
cyberspace. A large and diverse international community has come
together to discuss the concept and potential of OER in a series of
online forums.
The background papers and reports from the first three years of discussions are now available in print. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace
provides an overview of the first steps of this exciting new
development: it captures the conversations between leaders of some of
the first OER projects, and documents early debates on the issues that
continue to challenge the movement. The publication will provide food
for thought for all those intrigued by OER – its promise and its
progress.
Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace is
UNESCO's first openly licensed publication – an indication of the
commitment of the organization to the sharing of knowledge and the free
flow of ideas.
