GET TO KNOW
the application process
PROGRAMME
The University of Nova Gorica and UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for OER and Open Learning at the Jožef Stefan Institute are announcing the sixth round of the Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW) International online mentoring program. The OE4BW has been developed to unlock the potential of open education in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The programme provides an innovative approach to building Open Educational Resources (OER), connecting new developers of educational materials with experts who volunteer as their mentors. The aim of the programme is to build capacity in open education while producing concrete educational materials with the potential for high social impact. The program has been running annually since 2017, has had 262 completed projects, and is entirely run by a community of high-level dedicated volunteers from around the world! As such, this is a highly selective and intensive program.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMME
Selected developers will start their work at the beginning of December 2022. They will have to publicly present their progress at the beginning of April 2023 (online, in the scope of a hub meeting with all mentors and developers). If selected to continue, project developers will be invited to present at the final event (Eduscope at the University of Nova Gorica in Vipava, Slovenia) organized at the end of May/beginning of June 2023.
The developers shall:
- develop new open modules and resources for online education on topics with social impact according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), or
- upgrade existing open module(s) and resource(s) on topics with social impact according to the SDGs, or
- create auxiliary material such as assignments, quizzes, video lectures, slides, etc., for already existing open educational resources on topics with social impact according to the SDGs, or
- translate existing open educational resources on topics with social impact according to the SDGs.
CANDIDATES
WHO CAN APPLY?
The program is open to all who want to participate in the online mentoring program. There are two categories:
- candidates for developers who have a concrete idea, clear motivation and strong commitment to develop OER aligned with the SDG;
- candidates for mentors who are willing to guide and advise the developers on the implementation of their OER in individually arranged online sessions;
The program will take place from December 2022 to June 2023. The whole program is based on voluntary work. We are not able to provide any financial compensation for your participation.
CANDIDATES FOR DEVELOPERS
20 This progamme could be of interest to educators who have been teaching for a number of years and who wish to expand their skills in creation and use of OER material. The programme is also suitable for professionals who work as educators (broadly defined) within NGOs, private sector, or other organizations and are interested in developing OER. Finally, the programme is open also to anyone else interested in developing their own OER project and would like to participate in this mentoring programme.
OE4BW is committed to the success of all developers who join the programme to create work that will add value for a better world. All developers will have access to the resources, training, and on-going support to be successful and further harness their experience and skills for long-term commitment to OER. Developers will also have unparalleled access to experts and thought-leaders in OER creation, open education, and open pedagogy, as well as an opportunity to meet with peers and fellow emerging OER advocates.
By joining this cohort of OER creators, you can help shape the future of open education.
In addition, a panel of hub coordinators will evaluate each project, and those that are approved will be offered an OE4BW label/seal, receive a certificate of completion, and will be highlighted on the OE4BW site. The developers of these selected projects will also be allowed to include this certification and label in their resumes and CVs, personal websites, and on their OER material.
The canidates for developers will have to complete ONE of the free online courses listed below as an entry requirement and upload the course completion certificate in the application form. It takes about 10 hours to complete the course:
- course in English language – Understanding Open Educational Resources
- course in English language – Open education, copyright and open licensing in a digital world
- course in French language – Éducation ouverte, droit d’auteur et licences ouvertes Creative Commons dans un monde numérique
- course in Spanish language – Introduction to Open Education & Open Educational Resources
- course in Portuguese language – Introduction to Open Education & Open Educational Resources
Candidates for developers are invited to apply by 27 November 2022 by filling out the application form for developers. We will inform the developers by email (info@oe4bw.org) about acceptance at the beginning of December 2022.
CANDIDATES FOR MENTORS
The main role of the mentors is to guide developers in their OER creation. The mentorship process is person focused, led by the mentee and supported by the mentor through dialogue. Mentee owns the process and takes the main responsibility 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 relationships are unique, based on the mentee’s individual needs and the mentor’s area of expertise. However, preference will be given to those, that already have some experience and understanding of OER, creative common licenses, and open practices.
What are the benefits of joining the programme?
OE4BW is committed to the success of all developers and mentors who join the programme to create work that will add value for a better world. All developers and mentors will have access to the resources, training, and on-going support to be successful and further harness their experience and skills for long-term commitment to OER. Mentors will also have unparalleled access to other experts and thought-leaders in OER creation, open education, and open pedagogy, as well as an opportunity to meet with peers and fellow OER advocates.
By joining this cohort of OER mentors, you can help shape the future of open education. Mentors will also be provided with letters of recommendation (upon request) from the OE4BW team.
Candidates for mentors are invited to apply by 27 November 2022 by filling out the application form for mentors. We will inform mentors and developers by email (info@oe4bw.org) about acceptance at the beginning of December 2022.
NO FEE
Is there any participation fee?
There is no participation fee. This is only possible because the program is run entirely on a voluntary basis. There will be no financial compensation for the work of participating developers, mentors, hub coordinators and organizers.
SELECTION
When and how are the participants selected?
In 2022/23, a very limited number of projects will be selected to create unique open educational resource (OER) projects that leverage existing OER and ensure an educational contribution to the achievement of one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Developers will be selected using the Review Criteria for their experience as educators creating digital learning resources, their teaching or facilitation experience, the quality of an example resource they share as part of their application, and the strength of their proposed project.
This year OE4BW is especially looking for (but is not limited to) projects to be involved in one of the specific thematic Hubs.
- Displaced persons – provide or develop open materials for the displaced persons – we are seeking materials for elementary and secondary school curricula, vocational education, and social-emotional learning/teaching support; professional development for teachers, all levels of education;
- Sustainability – topics on climate, environment, natural science
- Education – addressing quality of education, pedagogical issues, teacher professional development
- Other
Candidate and Project Review Criteria for Developers available here.
SOME EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS PROJECTS
An example of translating and modifying an existing OER; Translation of En-Roads simulator interface into Slovenian language: and the creation of additional and auxiliary educational material En-Roads (by Mojca Drevenšek)
An example of translating and modifying an existing OER: ALQUIMÉTRICOS – toys for quarantine – translation in Spanish and Portuguese (by Fernando Daguanno)
A new course based on original material making use of an open (Moodle) platform Playwriting for children: A participative and creative approach (by Rajendra Chavan)
An example of creating auxiliary material (assignments, video lectures, slides): Food and Wine Economics (by Veronika Dolar)
PLAN
How will the work be done?
The program will take place from December 2022 to the beginning of June 2023.
The developers will be informed about acceptance at the beginning of December 2022.
December 2022 – developers are connected to mentors
January 2022 – March 2023 – developers work on their projects under the guidance of their mentors
April 2023 – an interim public presentation of the progress of projects (within each assigned hub)
End of May – the beginning of June 2023 (precise dates to be determined in the future) – selected projects will be invited to present in-person or online at the Eduscope at the University of Nova Gorica in Vipava, Slovenia, where the projects will be reviewed by the panel of hub coordinators.
RESOURCES
Where can I learn more about Open Education and OER?
Here are some suggestions:
Commonwealth of Learning
University Library System
Opensource.com
YouTube channel on OER
Open Education Design: Course for Practitioners 2018
Open Education Design Workshop 2019
TU Delf Online Learning Hub
See also materials provided by:
Open Education Global
OER Commons
Opensource.com
Creative Commons
TESTIMONIALS
what our participants have to say
The Open Education for a Better World cares about the participants’ opinions, comments and feedbacks: actually, they are the main and most important testimonials of our work. Find out what our mentors, developers and their students experienced and what were the benefits of participating in the OE4BW mentoring programme.
So excited to be part of such an amazing program that benefits mentors and developers. We all learned a lot in the process, particularly how to work on a culturally diverse project with mentors and developers residing on different continents providing different perspectives. Each year it is incredible to see all the new projects and meet the experts passionate about the topics they are sharing with the world.
It has been a fascinating journey of collaboration and discovery with two indivicuals from two different countries and continents whom I didn’t know in advance of the project. A really positive and fruitful collaboration… I learnt a lot and we achievend a lot in just six month.
The OE4BW program has inspired the project idea to establish an open, global, collaboratively-generated knowledge platform to strengthen energy literacy and support the SDG7. The iEnergy project, developed in the 2019 OE4BW program proved that the global, energy-related open education movement is on its way. I’m proud to be part of it and excited about the future OE4BW’s topic-specific SDG7 Hub!
OE4BW has developed a greater sense of responsibility in me as an educator and has given me a new insight about how I can make use of my ideas and knowledge to reach to the masses and be a real educator in its truest sense.
The OE4BW workshop was awesome. The warmth and care was felt at every step maintaining the professional structure of the workshop. I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the entire organising team, technical team and all the speakers.
I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to organisers for establishing such a great network and promoting such important issue all around the world!
A dream come true … Incredibly magic moments!
The last four projects have touched beyond my school life and into all aspects of who I am as a person. This includes everything from my social skills, to my ability to carry meaningful conversations about real topics, it’s expanded my curiosity, advanced my learning techniques, as well as driven me to share and collaborate with everyone around me.
Contact
Jožef Stefan Institute
Centre for Knowledge Transfer in
Information Technologies (CT3)
Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
email: anja.polajnar@ijs.si
Founders
