UNESCO is a member of the Open Educational Quality Initiative (OPAL) which aimed to create a new open educational practices (OEP) framework. Open educational practices were defined as practices which support the production, use and reuse of open educational resources (OER ) which help learners, educational professionals, organizational leaders, and policy makers to improve quality in higher education and adult education and training.
UNESCO’s responsibility within the OPAL Initiative was to:
1. Build a Clearinghouse of at least 100 of the best open educational practices; and
2. Assist at least 50 organizations to apply the OEP Maturity self-assessment
UNESCO is close to achieving its goal within the Initiative ending on 31st December 2012.
A. If you are currently working with OER or open educational practices, we would like to invite you to submit your practice to the OPAL Clearinghouse.
http://www.oer-quality.org/clearinghouse/submit-a-best-practice/
This is a very quick fill-in-form (approximately 5 minutes) which allows you to share your best practices.
B. If you feel your organization is already practicing open education or is ready to move into open educational practices, then please take the time to complete the OPAL Maturity Assessment:
http://www.oer-quality.org/maturity/submit-an-assessment/
This is a comprehensive mapping exercise based on the OPAL Guidelines (approximately 25 minutes).
Please excuse any cross-posting and don’t hesitate to contact either Mr. Abel Caine (a.caine@unesco.org) or Ms. Molly Malone (m.malone@unesco.org) for any help to complete the uploading of a practice or the self-assessment. We’d appreciate it if you could please also forward this message to your OER colleagues and look forward to your submissions.
UNESCO Open Educational Resources (OER) Programme
www.unesco.org/webworld/en/oer