Open Educational Resources in Europe
The Open Educational Resources in Europe (OEREU) project is providing a critical assessment of OER initiatives and practices in Europe, developing sector-specific foresight scenarios to illustrate the benefits, carrying out a representative survey on the use of OER, identifying challenges across all sectors and, jointly with stakeholders, developing, discussing and proposing recommendations for the further development and mainstreaming of OER in Europe.
OER, says the project website, refers to “the open provision of educational resources, enabled by ICT, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes” (UNESCO, 2002). It is important to note that those resources are not limited to content, but comprise also “the creation of open source software, development tools and the development of standards and licensing tools” (OLCOS, 2007). It is acknowledged by policymakers and researchers that a fundamental transformation of education and learning throughout Europe is needed to address the new skills and competences required if Europe is to remain competitive, overcome the current economic crisis, grasp new opportunities and insure social justice and cohesion.
