Building Knowledge Societies

Building Knowledge Societies Zeynep Varoglu Programme Specialist, ICT in Education Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector 1

Building Knowledge Societies Objectives : - Access to information for open participation in Knowledge Societies 2

Building Knowledge Societies Content Development: OER ICT for Persons with Disabilities Teacher Training : ICT CFT Software : Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) 3

OER is NOT the same as..

Content: Open Educational Resources (OER) Any educational resource/materials that may be freely accessed, reused, modified and shared.openly available for use without paying royalties/licence fees Image: http://foothillglobalaccess.pbworks.com/w/page/13095903/open_educational_resources http://www.globalkap.com/industries/legal

What is an OER? Curriculum frameworks and maps Course materials Documents Books Multimedia applications

UNESCO World OER Congress 2012 Participants: Ministers /senior policy makers expert practitioners/ researchers and relevant stakeholders UNESCO Paris, 20-22 June 2012 UNESCO HQs, Paris (20-22 June 2012) Aims To showcase innovative and promising practices in OER policies and initiatives Debate and adopt the Paris OER Declaration

Paris 0ER Declaration 2012 a) Facilitate awareness and use of OER b) Facilitate enabling environments for use of ICT. c) Reinforce the development of strategies and policies on OER d) Promote the understanding and use of open licensing frameworks e) Support capacity building for the sustainable development of quality learning materials f) Foster strategic alliances for OER g) Encourage the development and adaptation of OER in a variety of languages and cultural contexts h) Encourage research on OER i) Facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing OER j) Encourage the open licensing of educational materials produced with public funds

Paris OER Declaration: 4 Main Types of Action 1. Facilitate understanding and use 2. Support capacity building 3. Reinforce strategic alliances 4. Encourage forward looking actions

The Paris OER Declaration Follow-up Project The challenge is to move from words to actions 2013-2014

The Paris OER Declaration Follow-up Project Advocacy : Awareness raising on the importance of OER and related technical requirements Policy : Support for national OER policies and strategies Teacher Training: Capacity building to develop and use OER by supporting the effective use of ICT in Education.

The Paris OER Declaration Follow-up Project Advocacy : Awareness raising on the importance of OER and related technical requirements Policy : Support for national OER policies and strategies Teacher Training: Capacity building to develop and use OER by supporting the effective use of ICT in Education.

The UNESCO OER Programme 1. Paris OER Declaration 2. OER Platform 3. UNESCO/COL OER Policy Guidelines 4. OER Community on the WSIS Platform 5. OER Research Chairs: Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Brazil 6. Publications 7. Partnerships: Commonwealth of Learning (COL)

Implementing the Paris OER Declaration Awareness : raising on the importance of OER and related technical requirements Policy : Support for national OER policies and strategies Teacher Training: capacity building to develop and use OER and effective use of ICT in Education.

Main Objectives ICT CFT harnessing OER 1. OER harnessed to support teacher training for effective use of ICT in the classroom (ICT CFT) 2. Teacher Trainers trained on harnessing OER for the ICT CFT.

Teacher Training : ICT CFT The ICT Competency Framework for Teachers A Framework for training teachers to effectively integrate ICT in their practice. A set of competencies that teachers need to integrate ICT into their practice and professional development to advance student learning.

Background: ICT CFT Version 2.0 The ICT CFT V.2 (2011 ) is an update of the ICT CFT V.1 (2008) Result of partnership between UNESCO, CISCO, INTEL, ISTE and Microsoft Enriched with inputs from subject matter experts and users worldwide Enhanced with the inclusion of exam syllabi and exam specifications Openly licensed so users are allowed to repurpose and re-use as necessary (including translation) for noncommercial purposes (It s an OER!) 17

The ICT CFT Toolkit

The ICT CFT Toolkit http://ccti.colfinder.org/toolkit/ict-toolkit/index.html A set of resources to contextualize the ICT CFT to meet national needs. resources for creating an ICT in Education strategy, collecting education data, considering approaches to advocacy, designing curriculum to materials development and provides a set of open materials that could be used for training new or in service teachers. The tools were developed through a partnership of UNESCO, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Microsoft and the Ministries of Education in the Caribbean and Pacific. The approach suggested calls for an adoption, and where necessary the adaption, of Open Education Resources (OER) selected and aligned to the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers ( ICT CFT)..

Free and Open Source Software Software plays a crucial role in access to information and knowledge. The development and use of open, interoperable, nondiscriminatory standards for information handling and access are important elements in the development of effective infostructures; Recognition that: The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) model provides interesting tools and processes with which people can create, exchange, share and exploit software and knowledge efficiently and effectively; The community approaches to software development has great potential to contribute to operationalize the concept of Knowledge Societies;

Free and Open Source Software Support for FOSS activities Observatory of developments in the area Capacity development

ICT for Persons with Disabilities UNESCO is one of the UN agencies that promotes and supports the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006. The UN Convention represents the universal framework, which reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities can enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. 22

ICT for Persons with Disabilities 1. Developing policies in support of an inclusive Knowledge Societies 3. Building capacity to implement accessibility for persons with disabilities. 4. Making education accessible to persons with disabilities. By promoting accessibility solutions and innovations 23

UNESCO Global Report on ICT to Access to Information and Knowledge for People with Disabilities Background Building on UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, addresses strong recommendations to all stakeholders on how concretely to advance the rights of people living with disabilities. The recommendations draw on extensive research and consultations. Studies launched in five regions have allowed UNESCO to understand more clearly the conditions and challenges faced by persons with disabilities around the world. 24

UNESCO Global Report on ICT to Access to Information and Knowledge for People with Disabilities Main Recommendatons: Policies and legislation to make information and knowledge more accessible through ICT. Applying accessibility standards to the development of content, product and services. The successful application of such technologies can make classrooms more inclusive, physical environments more accessible, teaching and learning content and techniques more in tune with learners needs. 25

Building Knowledge Societies Content development: OER ICT for Persons with Disabilities Teacher Training : ICT CFT Software : Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) 26

Thank you Zeynep Varoglu Hamet Email: z.varoglu@unesco.org 27