[Foundation-l] UNESCO discussion on Access to OER

[Bjoern Hassler]

Dear all,

First post to list - hello to all.

I am particularly interested in access / digital divide issues  
regarding online media and Open Educational Resources, particularly  
with regard to technical issues, such as poor bandwidth or mobile  
accessibility. I am not sure what discussion there has been on this  
list regarding digital divide issues around mediawiki / wikipedia, and  
I am sure there are quite a few ideas around how to improve (low  
bandwidth) access.

I thought you might be interested in an upcoming mailinglist-based  
discussion around digital divide / access issues for OER (on the  
mailing list of UNESCO's international Community on Open Educational  
Resources), and I would like to invite you all to participate (if  
interested).

The discussion starts this coming Monday (9th Feb), and to participate  
you simply subscribe to the mailing list: https://communities.unesco.org/wws/info/iiep-oer-opencontent

Further details below and on http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org . Feel  
free to email me if you have any questions.

I hope this is of interest - apologies if this list isn't quite the  
right forum.

All the best,
Bjoern


UNESCO launches new discussion on Open Educational Resources (OER):  
access to Open Educational Resources, 9-27 February 2009

The UNESCO Open Educational Resources Community is launching a new  
three-week discussion on the subject of access issues. The discussion  
will take place from 9 to 27 February 2009 and is open to all.

During the first week the community will focus on identifying - and  
attempting to classify - the main problems in accessing OER. The theme  
of the second and third weeks will be "tried and tested solutions", as  
participants are invited to share their experiences in working around  
such problems.

The discussion will be facilitated by Bjoern Hassler of Cambridge  
University’s Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies.

About the community: UNESCO’s international Community on Open  
Educational Resources has been active since 2005. It connects over 700  
individuals in 105 countries to share information and discuss issues  
surrounding the production and use of Open Educational Resources – web- 
based materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in  
teaching, learning and research. UNESCO’s work on Open Educational  
Resources is generously supported by the William and Flora Hewlett  
Foundation.

Participate in the discussion:
    • For more information, see the Access2OER page on the UNESCO OER  
Community wiki http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org/index.php?title=Access2OER
    • Subscribe to the mailing list here: https://communities.unesco.org/wws/info/iiep-oer-opencontent