Open Educational Resources

Art, Design and Media Open Educational Resources Project 2009/10

Background

At a meeting in 2002 UNESCO discussed the idea of providing free and open access to educational resources, with participants at the meeting expressing "their wish to develop together a universal educational resource available for the whole of humanity" (UNESCO: 2002). While there is great potential for information and communications technology to enhance and widen access to educational institutions, the lack of availability of high-quality pedagogic materials has so far been a significant barrier for those attempting to raise the global provision of education.

In 2005, The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning decided to address this issue of 'lack of information' and began to focus on raising awareness of the provision of Open Educational Resources (OER) by member states (click here for an overview of the UNESCO OER initiative).

UCA's involvement

The University for the Creative Arts is participating in the UK OER project in conjunction with the University of the Arts, London and the University of Cumbria. Supported by HEFCE, JISC and the HEA, the three institutions will examine the issues surrounding OER in Art and Design and aim to contribute new teaching materials and guidelines to the OER movement.