Athabasca University

Athabasca University, Canada's Open University, is dedicated to the removal of barriers that restrict access to and success in university-level study and to increasing equality of educational opportunity for adult learners worldwide. As a leading open university in Canada with an international scope, Athabasca seeks to sustain the international OER Community, originally built in 2005 at UNESCO through project support from the Hewlett Foundation. To further strengthen the OER Community, Athabasca will maintain a link to UNESCO and has applied for a UNESCO Chair in OER. Through these networks, Athabasca University will promote international collaboration to ensure that both developed and developing countries can participate in the OER movement according to their specific context and needs.

Over the past four years, UNESCO took a leadership role in making countries aware of the potential of OER through an international awareness raising and capacity building effort with support from the Hewlett Foundation. The sustainability of this work will be assured by establishing a UNESCO Chair in OER at Athabasca University. The existing OER Community of more than 900 members from 109 countries will continue to interact in short discussion sessions on key topics of concern. To build capacity, an OER Network will be launched with a focus on action and collaboration. A mapping exercise will be initiated to begin to sketch out the OER landscape. Together, the OER Community and an OER Network will promote international interaction to ensure that both developed and developing countries can benefit from the OER movement, according to their specific context and needs. Outcomes include the ongoing international OER Community, an international OER Network, a wiki, and the documents produced in the community interaction and the network. (New, $150,000/2; 60% of project budget)