The paper summarizes the results of the project implemented since 2010 by the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) to advocate the OER movement and build the capacity in production, sharing and use of OER in UNESCO Member States, in particular, in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Baltic States and other non-English-speaking countries. The project activities build on the results of examination of the needs, capacities, opportunities and challenges for the production and use of OER in the selected countries. Particular attention is paid to the exploration best practices, raising awareness of open licenses and analysis of the obstacles hindering the dissemination of open digital content. The surveys of the state-of-the-art, challenges and prospects for the development of OER provided a further insight into how OER-related patterns vary in non-English-speaking countries. As a result, recommendations for the promotion of Open Educational Resources tailored to the context of specific countries, for example, Brazil, China, France, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, etc. were proposed. In addition to implications for the education policies, the issues related to transformation of pedagogical practice to ensure stronger emphasis on collaborative approaches and quality assurance through rating OER were studied as well.
Journal or Publication Title
Proceedings of the 2nd Regional Symposium on Open Educational Resources: Beyond Advocacy, Research and Policy (24-27 June 2014; Penang, Malaysia)