My keynote presentation at OERcampGlobal 10 December 2021

1. OER - a new social contract for
learning throughout the lifespan
10th Dec. 2021
https://oercampglobal2021.sched.com/event/rfoT/keynote-oer-
a-new-social-contract-for-learning-throughout-the-lifespan
Ebba Ossiannilsson,
Sweden
Professor, Dr. Chair ICDE
OER Advocacy Committe

2. Professor, Dr. Ossiannilsson, Sweden
… is an independent consultant, expert, influencer and quality
reviewer in the field of open, flexible online and distance learning.
She is committed to promoting and improving open and online
learning in the context of SDG4 and the futures of education.
Ossiannilsson has nearly 20 years of experience in her field.
Ossiannilsson works with the European Commission, UNESCO OER
Dynamic Coalition, ITCILO, and with ICoBC (International Council on
Badges and Credentials). She is a member of the board of ICDE and
has previously worked for both EDEN and EUCEN. She works as an
international quality assessor for EADTU and ICDE. Ossiannilsson is
chair of the ICDE OER Advocacy Committee. She also has several
other roles for ICDE, such as the ICDE Quality Network, and she has
been a research leader for the Global Overview of Quality Models
Study and for Blended Learning. Ossiannilsson has been awarded the
titles of EDEN Fellow, EDEN Council of Fellows, Open Education
Europe Fellow, ICDE Global Advocacy Ambassador for OER and Open
Education Champion SPARC Europe. She is on the editorial board of
several academic journals and is regularly invited as a keynote
speaker at conferences. Her publications number more than 200. On
a national level, she is Vice President of the Swedish Association for
Distance Education.

3. It was a milestone in history when the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) was unanimously
adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in November 2019. This Recommendation is the only existing international
standard-setting instrument at OER and is the result of more than a decade of efforts to bring together a wide range of
stakeholders. The Recommendation outlines five action areas, namely: 1. building stakeholder capacity for the creation,
access, reuse, adaptation and sharing of OER; 2. developing supportive policies for OER; 3. promoting inclusive and
equitable quality OER; 4. promoting the creation of sustainability models for OER; and 5. promoting and strengthening
international cooperation on OER, and including monitoring and evaluation. At the international level, the adoption of the
Recommendation represents a crucial step towards building a more open and inclusive knowledge society and achieving the
2030 Agenda UN. Indeed, the implementation of the Recommendation will contribute to the achievement of at least six
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDG 4 (Quality education), SDG 5 (Gender equality), SDG 9 (Industry,
innovation and infrastructure), SDG 10 (Reduce inequalities within and between countries), SDG 16 (Peace, justice and
strong institutions) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Education needs to be redefined as a public good and a collective global responsibility. Now is the time for public deliberation
and democratic accountability. Decisions made today will determine our success in transitioning to a greener, more inclusive
and resilient future, charting a path that enables all to face the future with confidence. The choices must be based on a
humanistic vision of education.
This session will take the stand of current global initiatives on the futures of education in the context of equity, social justice
and human rights and focus on how education and learning need to be forward-looking and different to achieve well-being
and empathy for individuals and society and build on an ecosystem that embraces resilience and sustainability with a new
social contract for learning across the lifespan. In addition, two ICDE initiatives in particular will be presented The European
Network for Catalyzing Open Resources in Education (ENCORE +), which responds to the European priorities of opening up
and modernizing education and training by creating a network that supports innovation and entrepreneurship with OER. The
other initiative concerns exploiting the opportunities offered by the OER recommendation, for which the French Ministry of
Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI) and the ICDE set up a Francophone expert working group OER in early

4. ICDE at a glance
Founded 1938 in Canada
A global, not for profit NGO and membership
association
Hosted and partly funded by Norway since
1988
In formal consultative partnership with UNESCO
ICDE Vision:
“To achieve the potential of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning created through our members
learning communities.”
330+ members and partners
70 countries in all world regions
impacting over 15 million students across all
continents

5. ICDE activities and projects in Open education and OER

7. Building forward differently - for wellbeing,
empathy and the social contract
• The pandemic COVID -19 exposed vulnerabilities; but it also revealed extraordinary human
capabilities and potentials.
• Decisions made today will have long-term consequences for the futures of education. Decisions
must be based on a humanistic vision of education, development, resilience, and human rights.
• The pandemic has changed the way we think about our education, our economy and our society.
COVID-19 has the potential to radically transform our world. Now is the time for public
deliberation and democratic accountability. Now is the time for intelligent collective action. The
choices we make today will determine our success in transitioning to a greener, more inclusive
and resilient future. It is an opportunity to chart a path that empowers everyone to face the
futures with confidence.
• The session will focus on the lesson learned from the pandemic which must be built forward and
differently to achieve well-being and empathy for individuals and for society.

10. Global Challenges
Digitalization
Equity
Inclusion
Climate Change
Sustainability

11. XVI Brazilian Congress of Distance Higher Education (ESUD) and the V International Congress of Higher Distance Education (CIESUD)

13. The UNESCO OER Recommendation is the only existing international standard-setting instrument on OER and is the
fruit of over a decade of efforts to bring together a wide diversity of stakeholders

14. Recommendation on Open Educational
Resources (OER)
Building capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER
Building
Developing supportive policy
Developing
Encouraging effective, inclusive and equitable access to quality OER
Encouraging
Nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER
Nurturing
Promoting and reinforcing international cooperation
Promoting and
reinforcing
+ MONITORING AND EVALUATION

15. UN UNESCO OER Recommendations,
the Way Forward for Member Countries
Professor,
Dr.,
Ebba
Ossiannilsson_CO20
22022020
MONITORING
(a) deploying appropriate research mechanisms to measure the effectiveness
and efficiency of OER policies and incentives against defined objectives;
(b) collecting and disseminating progress, good practices, innovations and
research reports on OER and its implications with the support of UNESCO and
international open education communities; and
(c) developing strategies to monitor the educational effectiveness and long-term
financial efficiency of OER, which include participation of all relevant
stakeholders. Such strategies could focus on improving learning processes and
strengthening the connections between findings, decision-making,
transparency, and accountability to inclusive and equitable quality education
and research.

16. + RECOGNITION
AND
RECONTEXTUALIZE
…

18. • Openness???
…. a way of being and relating
• What is paid by taxpayers,
should go back to taxpayers
• SDG
• The principles of social
justice are an essential part of
effective health promotion.
There are four
interrelated principles of social
justice; equity, access,
participation and rights

19. • UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science at
UNESCO’s 41st General Conference. This landmark
document is a major step forward towards creating a
world in which better sharing of science is open and
inclusive by design.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379949.l
ocale=en

20. UNESCO Global Consultation

22. Nine gradients identified (1)
• Public or private good
• Who pays for education in the future?
• Singular or diverse curricula
• Which perspectives will be included in
the curricula of the future?
• Early learning or lifelong learning
• When in life is learning most important
• Personalized learning or collective
endeavour
• Should learning be tailored to the needs
of individuals or groups?
• Transformation or incremental change
• Is transformational change needed for
education?

23. Nine gradients identified (2)
• Similar or diverse education
trajectories
• Will education become more or less
similar across countries?
• Top-down or bottom-up change
• Will changes in education be top-down
or bottom-up?
• Optimist or pessimistic future
• Are writers optimistic or pessimistic
about the future of education?
• Probable or preferred futures
• Are writers more concerned about the
future we will get
• or the future we want?

25. Examples of ICDE’s work in the field of OER

26. Francophone
Expert group in short:
Current Members
• French Digital University (L’Université
Numérique – UNIT, AUNEGe and UOH)
• French Ministry of Higher Education,
Research and Innovation
• Virtual Universities of Senegal, Mali,
Ivory Coast and Republic of Congo
• French National Commission for
UNESCO
• UNESCO
• International Organisation of La Francophonie
• ICDE
Potential Future Partners
• Virtual Universities of Bénin, Burkina
Faso, Niger and Central African Republic
• International Organisation of La
Francophonie
• Ministries of Bénin, Burkina Faso, Côte
d’Ivoire, Niger and Central African
Republic, Senegal, Mali and Republic of
Congo
• Business partners

27. OER Francophone Africa working group and project
• Synergies with
parallel initiatives in
the region at ICDE
and UNESCO
• French
• Language and
cultural validation of
capacity building
material
• Academic/policy level
• Multisectoral nature
of the expert group
• Needs identification
• Course/capacity
building material
• Roadmap
Capacity
building
Multisectoral
dialogue
Catalyzing
nature
Cultural
approach and
replicability
UNESCO OER Recommendation
OER capacity building (Area 1) &
Supportive policies (Area 2)
Project’s key components:

28. Capacity building: LIDA 103fr course
adaptation

29. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license except where otherwise noted.
European Network for Catalysing Open
Resources in Education
https://encoreproject.eu/

30. ENCORE+ Project Details
● ENCORE+ is a Knowledge Alliance project funded by the European
Commission under Erasmus+ 2020-2023
● Supporting the uptake of open education resources (OER)
● Catalysing and sharing innovative practice across education and business.
● Developing stakeholder communities for knowledge exchange
32
https://encoreproject.eu/

32. The Ecosystem model
34

33. 35
LinkedIn Groups:
ENCORE+ Policies and Practice Circle
ENCORE+ OER Innovation & Business Models Circle
ENCORE+ Quality Circle
ENCORE+ OER Technology Circle

34. Project
partners:
Contacts
Juliane Granly, ICDE
granly@icde.org
info@encoreproject.eu
Website
For further and updated information
about this project please see:
www.encoreproject.eu

35. Join the global
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36. My Footprints
www.i4quality.se
Ebba.Ossiannilsson@gmail.com
info@i4quality.se
THANK YOU!
CARING IS SHARING, SHARING IS CARING
OERAC LINKEDIN