IGF 2023 DC-OER The Transformative Role of OER in Digital Inclusion

The UNESCO Open Educational Resources (OER) Dynamic Coalition, which became an official Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Dynamic Coalition in March 2023, aims to support the widespread adoption and use of OER as specified in the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER. This Dynamic Coalition supports the use of digital public goods, namely openly licensed content, for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It works with Member States, the United Nations system, the private sector and other stakeholders to promote open educational content that adhere to privacy and other applicable international and domestic national laws, standards and best practices so that benefits of increased Internet connectivity can be experienced for learning in an inclusive manner. OER are defined in the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER as learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. Open license refers to a license that respects the intellectual property rights of the copyright owner and provides permissions granting the public the rights to access, re-use, re-purpose, adapt and redistribute educational materials. This session will examine the role of OER in addressing the challenges of global digital divides and supporting inclusive access to knowledge for learning, particularly as digital platforms for learning become more ubiquitous. This session will highlight how the work of the UNESCO OER Dynamic Coalition supports inclusive access to digital knowledge in the five areas of action of the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER: (i) building capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER;  (ii) developing supportive policy; (iii) encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER; (iv) nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER, and (v) facilitating international cooperation. Discussions will include a presentation of best practices on the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on OER in Francophone West Africa through the development of national OER strategies. This session will also trigger critical policy discussions on 4 domains: 1. How to strengthen capacities for sharing and creation of OER, via a multistakeholder process, with a view to advance digital inclusion?; 2 What is the key role of libraries in ensuring that OER are both accessible and accessed?; 3. How can we work better together to use the power of OER to accelerate progress towards the SDGs?; and 4. How can the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER contribute towards the operationalization of the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and feed into the Global Digital Compact, which highlights the importance of an “open” internet? This session will be in an interactive, multistakeholder panel format with moderation for participation from onsite and remote international and national experts. The expected outcome of this session will be to support the identification of priority initiatives by OER stakeholders that can accelerate sustainable development; a collective willingness to support the implementation of best practices from the OER Dynamic Coalition members; and to support a policy debate in the above-mentioned key areas, with a view to guiding the future activities of this Dynamic Coalition.

The session is designed as a panel discussion and participants will be encouraged to intervene by using the Zoom Q & A function. After the opening remarks, each speaker will have a three-minute slot to reply to a question from the moderator. Our onsite and online moderators will facilitate the interaction between speakers and attendees by using the chat and polling questions. If the platform allows, we are planning to use mentimeter (https://www.mentimeter.com) to make the session productive, inclusive and fun. At the end of the session, an open discussion is envisaged where both online and onsite attendees can participate. Finally, we should have identified a few priorities to address and a few very concrete actions to take.