The 2019 Recommendation on OER
The 2019 Recommendation on OER addresses practitioners and decision makers in governmental and institutional settings and encourages knowledge-sharing, capacity-building and policy support related to digital public goods for learning. It outlines recommendations to Member States in five areas of action. UNESCO has developed guidelines for the implementation of these five key action areas: building the capacity of stakeholders to create, access, reuse, adapt and redistribute OER; (ii) developing supportive policy; (iii) ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality OER; (iv) nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER; and (v) facilitating international cooperation
The Dubai Declaration on OER
To examine mechanisms for optimizing openly licensed learning content to address the challenges and opportunities posed by emerging technologies and AI, UNESCO organized the 3rd World Open Educational Resources Congress: “Digital Public Goods: Open Solutions and AI for Inclusive Access to Knowledge”. The Dubai Declaration on OER was formally adopted on 20 November 2024. This document will serve as a roadmap for governments, institutions and other stakeholders to strengthen their commitments to OER and to ensure that digital public goods are central to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
During the 3rd UNESCO World OER Congress, 15 breakout sessions took place, featuring over 45 presentations. These sessions focused on the key Action Areas outlined in the OER Recommendation, covering topics such as emerging technologies, innovations, strategies, and mechanisms to mobilize more stakeholders.
The presentations are linked to each Action Area of the Recommendation. They are available for consultation, download and sharing.
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Exploring Cases that Highlight Successes with Open Educational Resources
OER Africa coordinated a project for the Network of Open Orgs, which involved a collaborative effort among several members of the Network to develop a set of seven case study summaries that collectively explored the success of OER and highlighted the implications of these initiatives for Continuous Professional Development for OER practices.
The case studies were analysed to produce a set of key findings for this summary report. -
OER Initiatives in African Higher Education Summary Report: Successes, challenges, and lessons learnt
To assess the long-term contribution to establishing sustainable OER practices in African higher education, OER Africa undertook a retrospective analysis of selected initiatives. The research sought to understand their effectiveness and what might be learnt from them to enable better development and support of OER practices. It also aimed to use this engagement to deepen OER Africa’s understanding of professional development needs amongst African academics to enable more effective OER practices. The process involved preparing profiles on several African OER initiatives in higher education to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of each initiative, followed by this analytical summary report. This report collates the findings from the OER initiatives , highlighting the implications of the findings for better development and support for effective OER practices. -
OER Africa Initiatives in Higher Education Research Infographic
OER Africa researched eleven African OER initiatives to assess their long-term contribution to establishing sustainable OER practices in African higher education. This work explored their effectiveness and identified lessons to enable better development and support of OER practices.