Open Education

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These guides have been prepared by UNESCO, as part of its programme of the support to governments and educational institutions in the implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation. They draw heavily on the in-depth background papers prepared by OER experts from around the world in each of the five Action Areas: Prof. Melinda dP. Bandalaria (building the capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER); Dr Javiera Atenas (developing supportive policy); Dr Ahmed Tlili (encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER); Dr Tel Amiel (nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER), and Ms Lisbeth Levey (facilitating international cooperation). We are deeply grateful for their assistance and expert knowledge. Preparation of the text of the final guides was done with support from Neil Butcher and Alison Zimmermann of OER Africa.

The concept of open scholarship has radically altered the way in which academic research operates in Europe, providing as it does both opportunities and challenges for researchers. In addition, funders are increasingly demanding that researchers, must, as a pre-requisite to securing grant funding, have undertaken training in research ethics. Finally, there are increasing pressures on researchers to be aware of and comply with obligations under intellectual property and data protection law, and to ensure the proper management of their research data. This course seeks to provide researchers and research support staff with the tools necessary to navigate these issues.

The “Recycling Art” project engages children in transforming waste into creative toys, fostering sustainable living habits and environmental consciousness in line with SDG 13, through imaginative and fun activities.

Recycling art

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UNESCO’s first global guidance on GenAI in education aims to support countries to implement immediate actions, plan long-term policies and develop human capacity to ensure a human-centred vision of these new technologies. The Guidance presents an assessment of potential risks GenAI could pose to core humanistic values that promote human agency, inclusion, equity, gender equality, and linguistic and cultural diversities, as well as plural opinions and expressions. It proposes key steps for governmental agencies to regulate the use of GenAI tools including mandating the protection of data privacy and considering an age limit for their use. It outlines requirements for GenAI providers to enable their ethical and effective use in education.

This workbook takes the student on a conceptual journey aiding their understanding of what is meant by the quantitative-qualitative research process in contemporary legal empirical research. Although, of interest to social science students, the particular worked examples relate to how to do research on law, legal policy and review.

This lecture addresses core issues in choosing a research topic for undergraduate and first time researchers to consider. Often final year undergraduate students find this task a difficult one. Step by step the the lecture connects the student to core concepts, pressure points and key readings to foster their idea and focus their decision.

Through the inclusion of insightful provenances and case histories, students are taken on a journey back in time to learn not only from the original donors, but also from the physicians and anatomists who treated and prepared the specimen, offering fascinating insights into the healthcare systems and the education values of the time. Careful consideration was given to which specimens were to be showcased. Specifically, those over a hundred years old, without identifying features or sensitive features such as developmental anomalies.

Throughout this workbook students are asked to engage with the PCs Graduate Attribute & Mindsets Framework via a suite of activities or exercises. This engagement will provide students with the language of skills and attributes best suited to job application and success.

This Facilitator Checklist has been compiled from our experience as facilitators delivering the PACT Open Course with the National Forum. From our reflection, we created this resource to aid fellow facilitators save time and outlined key pre-Course, during-Course, and post-Course activities essential to the smooth running of all Open Courses.

The aim of this report is to explore how stronger relationships between higher education and business can address barriers to mainstream adoption and development of innovative and sustainable models and policies for Open Educational Practices (OEP). In this report, we explore how educational institutions and business interests can work together to better leverage the potential of Open Educational Resources (OER) in the service of OEPs. The report provides an overview of existing literature and research in the field of OER and presents a series of business models and approaches to supporting the development of OER, as well as their policies and practices. The issue of sustainability and longevity of OER materials, content and communities is discussed and three case studies are presented to illustrate different business models for supporting capability development, knowledge exchange and Communities of Practice. The report concludes with recommendations and provides some points to consider for organisations interested in developing business models, policies and practices to support the development of sustainable OER and in promoting OEP. The term OEP is used in this report as an umbrella concept reflecting the wider goals of creating more open educational and organisational cultures that support more diverse, equitable and inclusive approaches to teaching, learning and assessment (Cronin, 2017, p.1). Seminal and commonly accepted definitions of key concepts are provided as part of the report.

The toolkit is a set of 8 modules, delivered and accessible asynchronously, online, incorporating elements of information literacy, critical thinking and academic writing skills to allow students prepare for and complete an assignment in line with best practice in academic integrity.

Assignment Toolkit

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