A tuition free international
online mentoring programme
Unlock the potential of open education in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Years
Continents
Countries
Projects
Participants
HAVE YOU
heard the news
Highlighting Innovation: Green Button Journey by OE4BW’s Hub Youth
There are many reasons that stand out on how different and unique the Green Button Journey project is. Unlike a course or an educational resource, as the majority of OE4BW developing projects, this is a mobile app designed, created and supported by teenagers that...
OE4BW in India: Why the hype?
From the first cohort, there has been high interest from developers and mentors from India to participate in OE4BW. Every year, dozens of Indians apply and after the selection process, 40 to 50 percent of all shortlisted projects are from India. The areas...
2025 Call for OER developers and mentors is now open!
We are excited to announce that the 2024/2025 Call for Developers and Mentors for the Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW) program is officially open! We are seeking passionate and dedicated individuals from all around the world to join our global initiative in...
HOW
it works
The programme enrolls mentees from all over the world to, under a guidance of internationally recognized mentors, develop and implement OERs based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The process is person focused, led by the mentee and supported by the mentor through dialogue. Mentee owns the process and takes the main responsibilitiy for defining his/her needs for gaining from the mentoring relationship what is intended.
The role of the mentor is to help the mentee find their own solutions. Mentoring relationship is unique, based on the mentee’s individual needs and the mentor’s area of expertise.
Find more information about the programme in the article by T. Urbančič, A. Polajnar, and M. Jermol titled “Open education for a better world: a mentoring programme fostering design and reuse of open educational resources for sustainable development goals,” available here.
Open Education for Better World mentoring program was awarded by Open Education Global with »Open Collaboration Award for Excellence«.
The program Open Education for a Better World was mentioned 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐎 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞s – https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386595
Click on banners and explore the videos from past events to get basic knowledge, practical advice and hands-on experience:
WHO ARE
the initiators
The initiators developed the international online mentoring programme Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW), which has been designed to unlock the potential of Open Education in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Initiators also manage the programme, which provides an innovative approach to building Open Educational Resources, connecting developers of educational materials with experts volunteering as mentors.
Tanja Urbančič
Tanja Urbančič was Dean of School of Engineering and Management at the University of Nova Gorica, where, among others, she introduced and led the Master’s study program Leadership in Open Education for several years. She also thaught knowledge management, coordinated student’s projects and acted as a supervisor at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Mitja Jermol
Mitja Jermol is holder of UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for Open Educational Resources and Open Learning and head of the Centre for Knowledge Transfer in Information Technologies (CT3) at Jožef Stefan Institute. He has been doing research and development on artificial intelligence, cybernetics, cognitive systems and e-learning.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH
expertise & guidance
KNOWLEDGE IS SPREAD
all around the world
Hub leaders regionally coordinate developers and mentors in designing their OERs. Hubs are responsible for well-defined organizational tasks while following the methodology developed by the OE4BW Initiators and closely cooperating with them.
In 2023/24, the work is organized into 9 Hubs. The cooperation was initiated with Hub Youth, coordinated by Ervin Pfeifer; Hub Sustainability 1, coordinated by Gino Fransman; Hub Displaced persons, coordinated by Fawzi Baroud; Hub Artificial Intelligence, coordinated by Edmundo Tovar; Hub Sustainability 2, coordinated by Werner Westerman; Hub Health and well-being, coordinated by Rekha Chavan, Hub Education 1, coordinated by Ajita Deshmukh, Hub Education 2, coordinated by Subha das Mollick and Hub Renewable Energy, coordinated by Suzana Leben.
We are grateful to hub coordinators involved in previous years Lucy Tallents, Igor Lesko, Vasudha Kamat, Jayashree Shinde, Jenni Hayman, Naomi Wahls, Mojca Drevenšek, Jennryn Wetzler, Sameer Sahasrabudhe, Marija Komatar, Tel Amiel, Samatha Ahern and Madhavi Dharankar. We are thankful for their generous cooperation enabling the OE4BW mentoring program to spread worldwide.
ERVIN PFEIFER
Jožef Stefan Insitute
HUB YOUTH
Gino Fransman
Project Leader, Nelson Mandela University
HUB SUSTAINABILITY 1
Fawzi Baroud
Assistant Vice President for IT · Notre Dame University, Louaize (NDU)
HUB DISPLACED PERSONS
Ajita Deshmukh
Assistant Professor, MIT ADT University
HUB EDUCATION 1
EDMUNDO TOVAR
Professor, Technical University of Madrid
HUB ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Werner Westermann
Library of National Congress of Chile
HUB SUSTAINABILITY 2
REKHA CHAVHAN
SNDT Women's University
HUB HEALTH & WELL-BEING
Subha Das Mollick
Independent media teacher & filmmaker
HUB EDUCATION 2
Suzana Leben
JEMS, energy company
HUB RENEWABLE ENERGY
Contact
Jožef Stefan Institute
Centre for Knowledge Transfer in
Information Technologies (CT3)
Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
email: anja.polajnar@ijs.si
Founders
