Content uploaded by Martin Ebner
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Martin Ebner on Oct 11, 2021
Content may be subject to copyright.
Originally published in: Ebner, M. (2021) Open Education – why we need it. Education Technology Insights magazine
(online) https://edtech-europe.educationtechnologyinsights.com/cxoinsights/open-education-why-we-need-it-nid-1605.html
!
Open Education - why we need it
Open!Educational!Resources!are!learning!resources!with!an!open!license,!which!allow!the!reuse,!the!remix!
or!the!republishment!for!any!(learning!&!teaching)!purposes.!Firstly,!coined!in!2002!by!the!UNESCO!some!
first!higher!education!institutions!followed!these!principles.!But!why!do!we!need!those!Open!Educational!
Resources!-!shortly!OER!-!so!urgent?!Sometimes!the!strict!copyright!law,!especially!in!middle!Europe,!
seems!to!be!the!very!first!answer.!Nevertheless,!they!are!more!arguments.!We!published!this!firstly!in!a!
national!white!paper!(Ebner!et!al,!2016)!where!we!find!in!summary!7!reasons!for!OER!in!higher!
education:!
1. OER!as!a!driver!and!enabler!for!open!learning!scenarios!
2. Digital!society!needs!free!access!to!knowledge!and!open!exchange!
3. OER!as!a!driver!for!cooperation!between!universities!and!the!economy!
4. OER!as!a!driver!of!inclusion!
5. OER!as!an!aid!to!copyright!issues!
6. OER!leads!to!high!end!learning!resources!
7. Open!educational!materials!as!a!criterion!and!source!for!good!teaching!and!enhancement!for!the!
qualification!of!teachers!
These!first!thoughts!lead!to!think!about!national!strategies!and!how!we!should!deal!with!public!education!
in!future.!Even!the!pandemic!shows!us!that!we!need!in!a!fully!digitalized!learning!and!teaching!
environment!learning!resources!which!can!be!used!in!a!digital!way!-!to!collaborate,!to!learn,!to!
communicate.!To!make!all!this!happen!we!are!currently!working!in!a!national!project!called!"Open!
Education!Austria!Advanced"!(https://openeducation.at)!on!different!topics:!
1. A!national!wide!search!engine!called!OERhub!
2. Local!repositories!where!teachers!can!place!their!OER!
3. Concept!for!OER!certification!for!teachers!as!well!as!institutions!
4. A!teaching!program!how!we!can!train!teachers!to!make!them!knowledgeable!about!OER!
5. Processes!who!OER!can!be!(simply)!produced!
In!summary!this!should!help!to!educate!our!students!as!well!as!the!society!following!the!idea!to!transfer!
new!knowledge!fast!from!the!university!to!the!public.!Open!Educational!Resources!just!follow!
consequently!the!movement!of!Open!Access,!Open!Source,!Open!Data!or!Open!Government.!The!future!is!
not!only!digital,!but!also!open!to!educate!people!in!the!best!possible!way.!
Reference:!Ebner,!M.,!Kopp,!M.,!Freisleben-Deutscher,!C.,!Gröblinger,!O.,!Rieck,!K.,!Schön,!S.,!Seitz,!P,!Seissl,!
M.,!Ofner,!S.,!Zimmermann,!C.,!Zwiauer,!C.!(2016)!Recommandations!for!OER!Integration!in!Austrian!
Higher!Education.!In:!Conference!Proceedings:!The!Online,!Open!and!Flexible!Higher!Education!
Conference,!EADTU!2016,!pp.!34-44!