Asia Regional Consultation on Open Educational Resources
OER for inclusive and equitable quality education: From commitment to action
1–2 December, 2016 Hotel Impiana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The World OER Congress 2012, organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and UNESCO with the generous support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, led to the adoption of the OER Paris Declaration1 by delegates from 70 countries. At that time, the global open educational resources (OER) community focused on securing governmental support for OER. Since 2012, many governments and educational institutions have committed to policies in support of OER, and there is increased awareness and funding in many countries for the creation and distribution of OER.
To mark the five-year anniversary of the OER Paris Declaration, and to review the progress made so far, the Hewlett Foundation supported COL in organising six regional consultations in collaboration with UNESCO, the Government of Slovenia, and other partners. These consultations will lead to the 2nd World OER Congress, which will be held in Slovenia in September 2017 and will be organised by UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia.
The Asia Regional Consultation on Open Educational Resources (RCOER) was organised by COL and held on 1–2 December 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in partnership with Asia eUniversity, Kuala Lumpur. The theme of the regional consultation was “OER for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education: From Commitment to Action.” Annex 1 of this report contains the programme schedule.
The main goals of the regional consultation were to:
- Identify the current status of the recommendations made at the World OER Congress 2012, amongst the key stakeholders, the policy makers, and the OER communities;
- Initiate discussions regarding the identified challenges to mainstreaming OER, and formulate strategy recommendations to mitigate the challenges;
- Build awareness amongst key stakeholders about the objectives of the 2nd World OER Congress and make recommendations for consideration; and
- Encourage more governments to commit to the adoption of open licensing policies for educational materials developed with public funds.
The Asia RCOER brought together government officials and key stakeholders in the region to share policy initiatives and OER practices, and to discuss concerns and issues for mainstreaming OER to support inclusive and equitable quality education. A total of 48 participants from 24 countries attended the consultation. Among the participants, 21% were female and 79% were male. (See Annex 2 for the list of participants.)
Welcome remarks - Asha S. Kanwar, Ansary Ahmed, Indrajit Banerjee, Gašper Hrastelj, K. Balasubramanian, Sanjaya Mishra, Ishan Abeywardena
OER for equitable and quality education for all in Asia - Patricia Arinto, University of the Philippines Open University
David Wiley, Lumen Learning
Plenary presentation by Slovenia/UNESCO: an overview of the 2nd World OER Congress and its objectives - Mitja Jermol, UNESCO Chair in OER, Gašper Hrastelj, Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO
