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In this article, ambassadors of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) Open Educational Resources (OER) Advocacy Committee (OERAC) provide a snapshot of regional and global Open Educational Resources (OER)initiatives. This committee has been active since 2017 with membership renewed biannually. The ambassadors work to further OER awareness and understanding, to increase global recognition of OER, and provide policy support for the acceptance and application of OER. This overview highlights national and regional initiatives associated with the UNESCO OER recommendation and the five action areas that include: building capacity and leveraging OER; developing supporting policies; ensuring equity and effectiveness; encouraging sustainable OER model development; and, promoting and facilitating international collaboration. In addition, monitoring and evaluation of the action areas are suggested to be prioritized. This overview is not exhaustive, and much work remains to implement the OER Recommendation at scale, maximize its implementation, connect these recommendations to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), along with the futures of education with a new social contract for education, individuals, and the planet.

The emergence of open educational resources (OER) represents one of the most significant educational developments in the 21st century. Given their capacity to be freely adapted, re-used, and shared in different contexts, OER expand the options for educators. This paper reports on an initial study concerning such choices in which educators' personalities are investigated in relation to the OER adoption. Choosing open approaches has been shown to correlate with personal attitudes and several studies have highlighted the potential and need for investigating how personality might affect OER adoption. To address this gap, this study investigates the impact of educators' personality differences in relation to OER adoption. The analysis focuses specifically on the perception towards OER and the intention to use OER using the Five-Factor Model (FFM) to identify educators' personalities. Following a mixed methods approach, data collected from university educators using questionnaires (57 respondents) and interviews (15 respondents) are discussed in a two-stage hierarchical regression analysis. Demographic variables (age and gender) do not show any significant relationship. Findings reveal that while the explored five personality dimensions do not have an impact on the educator attitudes towards OER, they seem to have a significant impact on their intention to use OER. Specifically, only three personality dimensions -- namely, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness -- have a significant impact on the intention to use OER. This shows that 'open attitude' (mixing extraversion, and agreeableness, and openness) may be a fundamental prerequisite for educators to engage in open teaching practices, including the use of OER.

In terms of scale, shock, and disenfranchisement, the disruption to formal education arising from COVID-19 has been unprecedented. Anecdotally, responses from teachers and educators around the world range from heightened caution to being inspired by distance education as the "new normal." Of all the challenges, face-to-face and formal teaching have been most heavily affected. Despite some education systems demonstrating resilience, a major challenge is sustaining quality and inclusiveness in formal education suddenly delivered at a distance. In probing these issues, this article profiles international perspectives on the role of open education in responding to the impact on formal school and higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We proceed by highlighting and analysing practices and case studies from 13 countries representing all global regions, identifying and discussing the challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves. Reports cover the period from the beginning of 2020 until 11 March 2021, the first anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak as declared by the World Health Organization. In our comparative study, we identify seven key aspects of which three (missing infrastructure and sharing OER, open education and access to OER, and urgent need for professional development and training for teachers) are directly related to open education at a distance. After comparing examples of existing practice, we make recommendations and offer insights into how open education strategies can lead to interventions that are effective and innovative--to improve formal education at a distance in schools and universities in the future.

In this paper, we report the scientific experience of HELMeTO 2020, the second edition of the International Workshop on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, held virtually in Bari (Italy) in September 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The call received 59 proposals from nine countries, 39 papers were accepted to the virtual workshop and 26 full papers were finally selected to be published in the proceedings. The workshop illustrated a fast-developing scenario in which the epidemic emergency accelerated the dissemination and consolidation of online learning in higher education. A specific focus of the workshop can be identified as students' learning experience, with studies on tutoring and active learning approaches, personalized solutions supported by data analysis, virtual reality and an in-depth analysis of human-computer interactions.

While several studies have investigated the various effects of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP), few have focused on its connection to learning achievement. The related scientific literature is divided about the effects of OER and OEP with regards to their contribution to learning achievement. To address this tension, a meta-analysis and research synthesis of 25 studies (N = 119,840 participants) was conducted to quantitatively investigate the effects of OER and OEP on students' learning achievement. The analysis included course subject, level of education, intervention duration, sample size, geographical distribution, and research design as moderating variables of the obtained effects. The findings revealed that OER and OEP have a significant yet negligible (g = 0.07, p < 0.001) effect. Additionally, the analysis found that the obtained effect can be moderated by several variables, including course subject, level of education and geographical distribution. The study findings can help various stakeholders (e.g., educators, instructional designers or policy makers) in understanding what might hinder OER and OEP effect on learning achievement, hence accommodating better learning outcomes and more effective interventions.

The adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) can, on the one hand, increase access and quality in higher education, but on the other hand it is raising concerns among universities and researchers about its economic sustainability. This is mainly because, unlike traditional online learning, in OER-based approaches learners do not have to pay to access learning resources, however the institution incurs costs for the production, maintenance and dissemination of OER. In this context, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has urgently called for more research on OER sustainability models in its 2019 OER recommendation. To contribute to a better understanding of this issue, this paper used the triangulation method to investigate the potential OER sustainability models that are currently implemented by universities, along with their challenges and possible developments. Through a comprehensive literature review and a 2-round Delphi method with thirty OER experts, ten OER sustainability models have been identified and analysed, where public and internal funding are the most established ones. The findings of this study could support organisations in developing their own OER sustainability strategy, facilitating OER adoption worldwide and therefore contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The lack of teachers and equipment is a major obstacle to the implementation of Computational Thinking (CT) in education, particularly for rural schools. Although CT education has been investigated for many years, less attention has been paid to lower primary schools in rural areas. This study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the impact of three different learning approaches on the CT of grade-two primary school students in a rural area in China. Seventy-seven students were randomly assigned to three learning approaches, namely traditional lectures, Game-Based Learning (GBL) using a newly designed board game in classrooms, and GBL with parental involvement. The findings showed that both GBL approaches (i.e., with and without parents) significantly enhanced the students' CT skills compared to the traditional approach. The findings also showed that the GBL approach with parental involvement significantly enhanced students' attitudes toward learning CT compared with the other two approaches.

Open Education gained more visibility as a result of the emergence of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This article discusses whether MOOCs should be considered as OER. Open Education and OER can be treated as two strands with different historical roots even though, in theory, OER are an aspect of Open Education. Different OER definitions and typologies are analyzed in relation to their dimensions and categorizations. Furthermore, the four conditions and two original categories of MOOCs are discussed, leading to a debate on their quality. It turns out that there are two perspectives on MOOCs: from an OER perspective, MOOCs as a product can be called OER. From an Open Education perspective, MOOCs are going beyond OER as enablers of Open Education and are understood as an innovative way of changing education. These perspectives are reflected by the OpenEd Quality Framework. The short answer to our leading question is: sometimes, and it depends on your perspective.

The Metaverse has been the centre of attraction for educationists for quite some time. This field got renewed interest with the announcement of social media giant Facebook as it rebranding and positioning it as Meta. While several studies conducted literature reviews to summarize the findings related to the Metaverse in general, no study to the best of our knowledge focused on systematically summarizing the finding related to the Metaverse in education. To cover this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review of the Metaverse in education. It then applies both content and bibliometric analysis to reveal the research trends, focus, and limitations of this research topic. The obtained findings reveal the research gap in lifelogging applications in educational Metaverse. The findings also show that the design of Metaverse in education has evolved over generations, where generation Z is more targeted with artificial intelligence technologies compared to generation X or Y. In terms of learning scenarios, there have been very few studies focusing on mobile learning, hybrid learning, and micro learning. Additionally, no study focused on using the Metaverse in education for students with disabilities. The findings of this study provide a roadmap of future research directions to be taken into consideration and investigated to enhance the adoption of the Metaverse in education worldwide, as well as to enhance the learning and teaching experiences in the Metaverse.

This paper presents how virtual containers enhance the implementation of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) subjects as Open Educational Resources (OER). The publication initially summarizes the limitations of delivering open rich learning contents and corresponding assignments to students in college level STEAM areas. The role that virtual containers can play in current distant education is then discussed, starting by reviewing related teaching efforts around the use of legacy virtual machines. We then focus on the superseding container technology and how it can bridge the gap between online students, humble computing resources, teachers and IT specificities. As a practical example, we present an experience carried out at the online School of Engineering & Technology at Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR). Within the context of a subject about Physics for Computing Engineers, we describe the satisfactory evolution from using conventional software distribution methods towards the transition to virtual containers. Thanks to this virtualization approach, the necessary student activities can be implemented, the required software tools can be easily distributed, and the accompanying documentation can be seamlessly presented. The results show how student engagement and satisfaction increased over time, partly because of the easiness introduced by the container technology. Our experience proves that combining containerized educational resources and free and open distribution channels can be one of the cornerstones of a new OER approach in STEAM subjects.

The paper explores the change process that university teachers need to go through in order to become fluent with Open Education approaches. Based on a literature review and a set of interviews with a number of leading experts in the field of Open Educational Resources and Open Education, the paper puts forward an original definition of Open Educator which takes into account all the components of teachers' work: learning design, teaching resources, pedagogical approaches and assessment methods of teachers' activities. Subsequently, to help the development of teachers' openness capacity, the definition is further developed into a holistic framework for teachers, which takes into account all the dimensions of openness included in the definition and which provides teachers with self-development paths along each dimension. By working on the definition and on the framework with the interviewed experts, the paper concludes that a strong relation exists between the use of open approaches and the networking and collaboration attitude of university teachers, and that in order to overcome the technical and cultural barriers that hinder the use of open approaches in Higher Education, it is important to work on the transition phases--in terms of awareness and of capacity building--that teachers have to go through in their journey towards openness.

The paper explores the extent to which the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) can enhance international partnerships among universities. In order to validate the hypothesis that the use of OER can positively contribute to transformational partnerships, we have collected cases of OER-enhanced international cooperation and we have classified them in six patterns: OER contextualisation, knowledge sharing on Open Education, collaboration through MOOC platforms, virtual mobility schemes, collaborative open courses development, and collaborative accreditation of non-formal learning. Following an analysis of these patterns through the lenses of institutional engagement and transformational impact, we argue that the use of OER can have an potential transformational impact on the way universities collaborate and work in increasingly complex and international contexts, mainly thanks to the collaborative knowledge building and the stakeholders' engagement dynamics that the use of OER can foster.

The present study seeks to identify teachers' perceptions regarding STEM teaching professional development and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder the success of teachers' professional development. The participants of the study were 35 teachers. A qualitative approach was used for data collection by conducting semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers out of 35. All the participants were involved in the three focus group sessions. The findings of the study revealed that teachers have various perceptions toward the STEM professional development based on their experience, knowledge, and skills. Moreover, the study revealed different factors influencing STEM professional development among teachers including personal characteristics and internal factors including attitudes and beliefs toward STEM professional development activities, and teachers' capacity. Also, external factors such as design of the training program, availability of training material, and timing of training. The findings of the study could benefit the decision-makers to be aware about these factors that influence professional development and the teachers' needs.

Background Study: Several meta‐analysis studies have investigated the effects of mobile learning on learning performance. However, limited attention has been paid to pedagogy in mobile learning, making quantitative evidence of the effects of pedagogical approaches on learning performance in mobile learning scarce. Filling this gap can therefore help stakeholders understand which mobile pedagogical approaches might work or not under which learning conditions, hence achieving better learning experience and performance. Objectives: To address this gap, this study conducted a meta‐analysis and research synthesis of the effects of integrated pedagogical approaches on students' learning performance in mobile learning. Additionally, this study analysed the field of education, level of education, learning setting, sample size, and mobile device as moderating variables of the effect of pedagogical approaches. Methods: The software Comprehensive Meta‐Analysis V.3 was used for this meta‐analysis, where Hedges' g was calculated for the effect sizes. Specifically, 70 quantitative studies (N = 5575 participants) were coded and analysed. Results: The results indicate that pedagogical approaches in mobile learning have a large effect on students' learning performance (g = 0.93, p < 0.001). The most effective pedagogical approach was project‐based learning (huge effect), while collaborative learning, situated learning and game‐based learning had large effects. Finally, cognitive theory of multimedia learning and inquiry‐based learning had medium effects. The results also indicate that the effect is moderated by the field of education, the level of education, the learning setting, the sample size, and the mobile device. Finally, it is found that study quality might influence the overall effect size. Conclusions: The findings of this study can be beneficial to both researchers and practitioners as they highlight and discuss which pedagogical approaches could be more effective in mobile learning under specific conditions. Further research, on the other hand, should focus on covering additional moderators of learning performance like mobile device type and screen size which is one of the limitations of this study. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Mobile learning is widely adopted in education.Mobile learning can enhance learning outcomes. What this paper adds: Pedagogical approaches in mobile learning have different effects on students' learning performance.The most effective pedagogical approach in mobile learning is project‐based learning (huge effect).Which pedagogical approaches could be more effective in mobile learning under specific conditions. Implications for practice and/or policy: This study enriches the ongoing debate on how to design effective mobile learning interventions.This study provides substantial evidence about which pedagogical approaches in mobile learning would be more effective under which circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial that explores the relationship between technology and education in promoting sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of education for sustainable development (ESD) in addressing sustainability challenges and highlights the potential of emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and 3D printing in enhancing educational access and promoting sustainable practices. The editorial showcases four research articles that examine the adoption and impact of these technologies in different educational contexts. Overall, the document emphasizes the role of technology in achieving sustainable development goals and creating inclusive and resilient learning environments. It also emphasizes the need for critical reflection and careful implementation to ensure that technology promotes equity, inclusion, and responsible development. This document provides a valuable resource for researchers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners interested in using emerging technologies to promote inclusive and equitable quality education. [Extracted from the article]

Transgenic learning is a disruptive approach in education. It encourages modification of moving parts of the educational chain. This article provides a view of transgenic learning focused on the delivery of enriched learning contents in STEAM areas. It discusses the mutagenic role that the virtual containers may play in current distance education. We focus on the containers' technology and how it can bridge students, computing resources, teachers and specific IT needs. We also present an experiment carried out at UNIR University where we describe the transition from using conventional software distribution methods to the use of containers. Thanks to this virtualization approach, it is possible to deliver the necessary software-based lab scenarios. The results show that the participation and satisfaction of the students increased over time. Our experience shows that the combination of open educational resources, containers, and modern distribution channels can play a significant role in STEAM education.

Many initiatives exist to increase the adoption of open educational practices (OEP) within universities, but few initiatives start by exploring the capacity of educators to adopt open approaches. This paper addresses this challenge, suggesting that in order to build OEP capacity, universities should build on the existing skills of local champions who are familiar with open approaches. The paper builds on the "Open Educators' Factory" methodology to map the capacities of university teachers across four areas: open design, open content, open teaching and open assessment and presents the results of its application to a case study within an Italian university. The pilot demonstrates that by using this approach, it is possible to map universities' existing OEP and connect them with the capability of local educators. This enables university managers to build on the expertise of open education practitioners to raise the overall capacity of their staff to adopt open approaches.

The paper describes a classification system for adaptive methods developed in the area of adaptive educational hypermedia based on four dimensions: What components of the educational system are adapted? To what features of the user and the current context does the system adapt? Why does the system adapt? How does the system get the necessary information? Based on this taxonomy several classical methods of adaptive educational hypermedia are classified. In a second step the paper gives an overview of key features in IMS-LD for implementing adaptive educational methods and gives some examples. In the last section the work is integrated and IMS-LD features are identified which can be used for the four dimensions of the classification system. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

Despite the recognition of the benefits that can be achieved through the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and, more broadly, Open Educational Practices (OEP), there has been little research on the competences that are needed to enable educators to utilise such practices. To contribute to closing this gap, this paper presents a framework of the competences that educators in higher education should develop in order to effectively engage in OEP. The framework development was based on an in-depth analysis of a set of existing successful open teaching practices, which allowed to identify the underlying competences needed to engage in each one of them. The competence framework consists of one transversal attitude (that of being open to constructively engaging in OEP) and two competence categories (those relating to OER and those relating to open pedagogies). These two categories include a total of eight competences, described in detail through the corresponding knowledge and skills. The paper closes with a reflection on how to facilitate the attainment of these competences, that could become a key part of existing capacity building actions for educators at all levels, and suggests some directions for possible future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent sudden increase in the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs), and generative AI in general, has astonished education professionals and learners. In formulating a response to these developments, educational institutions are constrained by a lack of clarity concerning human-machine communication and its relationship to models of education. Ideas and models from the cybernetic tradition can help to fill this gap. Two paradigms are distinguished: (1) the transmission paradigm (combining the model of learning implied by the instruments and processes of formal education and the conduit model of communication), and (2) the coordination paradigm (combining the constructivist model of learning and the coordination model of communication). It is proposed that these paradigms have long coexisted in educational practice in a modus vivendi, which is disrupted by LLMs. If an LLM can pass an examination, then from within the transmission paradigm this can only understood as demonstrating that the LLM has indeed learned and understood the material being assessed. At the same time, we know that LLMs do not in fact have the capacity to learn and understand, but rather generate a simulacrum of intelligence. It is argued that this paradox prevents educational institutions from formulating a coherent response to generative AI systems. However, within the coordination paradigm the interactions of LLMs and education institutions can be more easily understood and can be situated in a conversational model of learning. These distinctions can help institutions, educational leaders, and teachers, to frame the complex and nuanced questions raised by GenAI, and to chart a course towards its effective use in education. More specifically, they indicate that to benefit fully from the capabilities of generative AI education institutions need to recognize the validity of the coordination paradigm and adapt their processes and instruments accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learners who learn from OER often cannot have their learning assessed or receive a credential. Open credentials offer a potential solution to this problem, combining badges or micro-credentials with competence frameworks and digital seals. This study identified the current situation of open credentials in post-secondary education in Europe, the main themes of the discourse, and the points of agreement and divergence surrounding them. The data comprised a corpus of transcriptions from 12 expert interviews and a focus group. Qualitative text analysis identified the principal themes. Findings included the following: (a) few assessments are available as open content; (b) linking OER and credentials requires detailed and expensive work on learning outcomes and assessment; (c) the aggregation of open credentials to create higher-level qualifications is a widely accepted ambition; (d) the European Union's infrastructure to support open credentials is appropriate and effective and can foster trust; (e) the outstanding challenges are organisational and practical, not technological; (f) assessment and content provisions should belong to separate organisational functions; and finally, (g) funding and support for open credentials in professional accreditation are essential for further progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]