Open Learning Network

The Moscow-based UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) has launched a project aimed at promoting OER movement within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States. Basic components of the project, I am in charge of, are identifying opportunities and needs, exploring policy options, and capacity-building in the production and use of OER in CIS countries and Baltic States. To support the efficient design of the project, under the OLnet Expert Fellowship I focused my research on the major problems concerned with the production and use of OER: quality, the effectiveness of use and sustainability, as well as copyright and open content licensing issues (to the extent they are applicable within the copyright laws existing in CIS).

During the four weeks of my stay at Milton Keynes I learned a lot about the University and its efforts in promoting OER initiatives within and beyond the UK (OpenLearn, LabSpace, OPAL, MORIL, TESSA, etc.). What impressed me the most is the professionalism and dedication of OU staff to the idea of open education and open educational content.  I would like to thank Patrick McAndrew, Grainne Conole, Andy Lane, Freda Wolfenden, Teresa Connolly, Andrea Inamorato dos Santos, Giota Alevizou, Paul Mundin, Dominique Newbould, Karen Cropper, Martin Weller, Tina Wilson, Rebecca Galley and many other staff members of the multinational OLnet team. My special thanks go to Karen and Janet who made all processes related to my stay run smoothly.

The four weeks flew away very fast. I got an insight into some specific OER-related issues, in addition I got access to the body of knowledge (publications, Cloudworks, etc.), and I hope that the contacts I established with OU colleagues will continue working at a distance and IITE will stay connected to the network. Indeed, the Open Learning Network has already become operative, as I managed to get a feedback to one my requests with respect to questionnaires from Engin Kursun, a former OLnet fellow from Turkey, who left Milton Keynes before I arrived. As a follow-up of my visit to the OU UK we consider an opportunity of co-authoring a paper and other ways of collaboration between our institutions, such as contribution to conferences and training workshops.

In the future, since IITE OER project is aimed at promoting OER produced in the languages other than English (Russian and other national languages of the CIS), the second part of my research under the OLnet Fellowship would be acquaintance with the operation of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and learning the approaches used to deal with Spanish-language OER from UOC experts. If the arrangements for the visa work, I’ll spend two weeks in Barcelona with UOC. If not, I'll be back to Milton Keynes in September.

Yours,
Svetlana Knyazeva
Knowledge Service Team Leader
UNESCO IITE