EntreCom4ALL MODEL to sustain the entrepreneurship competence needs

Open educational resources (OER) and some of the United Nations sustainable development goals

Opportunity or inequity? The paradox of open educational resources for continuing professional development in nursing.

After piloting an Open Educational Resources (OER) grant program, librarians from the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library OER Committee conducted a survey of librarians about the inclusion of library resources in OER initiatives. The survey examined if institutions defined library resources as OER, why libraries chose not to include library resources, and, if included, the types of library-licensed or purchased content. The survey found that most (18 of 27) respondents did not include OER and library resources together and, of the institutions that did, a majority (5 of 9) used licensed library resources in addition to open educational and open access resources. The conclusion of this article looks at the pilot grant program and the OER Committee’s decision to realign and rebrand the grant in light of the survey results.

This investigation explores the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) by educators, framed against the backdrop of advancing educational equity, a key objective of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). Amidst the digital era's transformative impact on education, this study seeks to identify the determinants that influence educators' willingness to embrace OER, drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) for theoretical grounding. Adopting a quantitative approach, this study analyzes 487 valid questionnaires among Chinese private higher education institutions. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the interplay between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, attitude toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and their effects on educators' behavioral intention and actual usage of OER. The findings underscore the critical influence of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on educators' intentions towards OER adoption. Additionally, the study highlights the mediating role of behavioral intention in the transition from attitudinal factors to the actual application of OER, emphasizing the centrality of educators' intentions in the adoption process. By synthesizing UTAUT and TPB within the OER context, this research enriches the scholarly understanding of technology acceptance models in education. It provides valuable implications for educational policymakers, institutions, and technology developers aiming to promote OER adoption, thereby contributing to the broader goal of achieving educational equity in the digital landscape.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4.7 aims to ensure learners acquire the knowledge and skills for promoting sustainable development by 2030. Yet, Open Educational Resources (OERs) that connect the public with SDGs are currently limitedly assigned and insufficient to promote SDG and sustainability education to support the achievement of SDG 4.7 and other SDGs by 2030, indicating a need for automatic classification of SDG-related OERs. However, most existing labeling systems can not support multiple labeling, tend to generate a large number of false positives, and have poor transferability within the OER domain. This research proposes a method to automatically assign SDGs based on AutoGluon, a machine-learning framework with powerful predictive capabilities, to allow multiple SDGs to be assigned to each OER. In the proposed framework, challenges of category imbalance and limited data availability are addressed, enhancing the precision and applicability of SDG integration in educational resources. To validate the transferability of model knowledge within the OER corpus, we used 900 lecture video descriptions from SDG Academy, forming the foundation for comparing our framework with existing labeling systems. According to the experiment results, our model demonstrates outstanding merits across various metrics, including precision, recall, F1, ACC, AUC, and AP.

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).

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.

In the race towards achieving the Education 2030 agenda, open educational resources (OER) act as a key enabler for sustainable development goal 4 (SDG4). Leading to the 2014 Regional Focal Points Meeting, Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL) Focal Point for Tonga had identified top priorities for the country where COL can further support the national agenda till 2021. Based on these needs, the Strategic OER Implementation Project in Tonga was initiated by COL in response to a request by the Ministry of Education and Training (MET) of Tonga. The project aims to assist MET in (a) developing a framework for fully utilizing the new fiber optic network infrastructure to deliver online learning to Tongans distributed in the 45 islands; and (b) improve the chances of sustainable livelihoods for Tongan youth by training them in life skills tailored to higher education and employment opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. This paper details the use of the horizontal framework for OER mainstreaming and the OER mainstreaming checklist within this project. The novelty of this project is its approach to mainstreaming OER at an institution in a systemic manner. The contribution this paper makes is to provide a proven plan for sustainable OER mainstreaming in a development setting.

The last decade has seen an increase in the number of open online spaces through which users can share their educational content. These may be institutional websites, national initiatives (such as Jorum in the UK or COERLL in the US), online communities of practice (see Chapter 8), or commercial websites. At the same time, the notion that using and creating Open Educational Resources (OER) is a positive, beneficial activity has gathered momentum across the world at political and strategic levels with the establishment of a range of initiatives aimed at promoting engagement with OER. In 2012, UNESCO adopted the ‘Paris OER Declaration’, which affirmed support and encouragement for the development of governmental policies integrating OER into education, and in 2013, the European Commission launched the ‘Open Education Initiative’ which aims to enhance the digital skills of European Union residents through ‘the development and availability of OER’ (European Commission, 2013). Since then many European projects have been funded to expand the integration of OER into teachers’ practices (such as LangOER, which aims to harness open practice to support minority, regional and less used languages).

Open Educational Resources (OER) are revolutionising education by providing freely accessible and adaptable learning materials that align with global goals for inclusive education. In Mauritius, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), the National OER Policy adopted in December 2022 aims to enhance educational access and equity in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). This paper highlights Mauritius’s efforts to advance equitable education through OERs, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). It examines the policy’s implementation, highlighting progress such as the establishment of the National OER Repository of Mauritius (NORM) and the development of 88 OER-based courses. Despite these achievements, challenges including limited infrastructure, coordination gaps, and capacity constraints persist. Drawing on policy documents, international frameworks, and academic literature, this paper proposes strategies to advance OER adoption, positioning Mauritius as a model for SIDS in leveraging OER for educational transformation.

This report presents the state of the art on the topic of entrepreneurship competence identifying and comparing different theoretical and practical approaches from the academic and entrepreneurial world. It draws on an extensive literature review, an inventory of selected initiatives and in-depth case studies. The report looks at different definitions, frameworks, components and other elements of entrepreneurship as a competence, and reflects upon entrepreneurship education, teaching and assessment methods used for entrepreneurial learning. This report is the final output of the JRC-IPTS funded study 'Entrepreneurship Competence: An overview of existing concepts, policies and initiatives (OvEnt)'; it is part of the wider research agenda of JRC-IPTS on 'ICT for Learning and Skills' that aims to provide evidence on how skills and key competences that our digital society needs are acquired, certified and recognised.

Background Data literacy is crucial in healthcare, as it allows healthcare professionals to recognize, collect, and use data for research efficiently. Teachers can use open educational resources (OERs) to increase data literacy among healthcare staff, covering the entire research process. This study focuses on examining existing OERs with a focus on data acquisition to identify the limitations of existing OERs and to develop new OERs for data collection based on these limitations. Methods The platforms ‘Twillo.de’, ‘Orca.nrw’, ‘Merlot.org’, ‘OER Commons’, ‘Serlo’, ‘VIMEO’, ‘Dailymotion’, ‘SlideShare’ and ‘YouTube’ were systematically searched for OERs focusing on quantitative and qualitative data acquisition. Only OERs published under a Creative Commons license were considered. A team of researchers then analyzed existing OERs with respect to production and content quality and sorted them into four competence levels of a learning objective matrix developed by Schüller (2020). Results Out of 4,383 search results, we identified 111 suitable OERs for qualitative data acquisition. Only 9 of these were related to health. For quantitative data acquisition, out of 4,415 search results, 145 suitable OERs were identified, 36 of which were health-related. Conclusions This study highlights the scarcity of suitable OERs for healthcare professionals to improve their health data literacy. This is for various reasons. Only a few OERs are specifically designed for healthcare professionals and, therefore, do not correspond to the lifeworld of learners in the explanatory examples. Additionally, the existing OERs are not sufficiently detailed in essential areas for learners and are customized to the competence level of the target group of healthcare professionals. Therefore, existing OERs must be adapted for healthcare professionals’ data literacy training. Key messages • The search for OERs on qualitative and quantitative data acquisition yields many results, but less than three percent of the results are suitable for training healthcare personnel. • Few Open Educational Resources (OERs) for healthcare professionals provide sufficient detail and alignment with their competency levels, which necessitates adaptations for data literacy training.

The adoption and utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Kenyan higher education institutions represent a transformative avenue in addressing challenges of access, affordability, and quality in education. While awareness of OER among faculty is growing, actual integration into teaching practices remains modest. Various factors impede widespread adoption, such as inadequate awareness, limited access to quality resources, technical barriers, and institutional support deficiencies. Nevertheless, ongoing initiatives, including the African OER Network and university specific programs, exhibit promise in promoting OER adoption. The utilization of OER in Kenyan higher education encompasses diverse approaches, from supplementing traditional materials to fostering professional development and course adaptation. Perceived benefits of OER in Kenyan higher education span affordability, accessibility, diverse content, flexibility, and lifelong learning opportunities. However, challenges encompass awareness, quality assurance, sustainability, infrastructure, and cultural alignment. Overcoming these hurdles demands strategies like establishing institutional policies, fostering collaboration, providing faculty training, creating dedicated repositories, addressing infrastructure gaps, advocating OER, and supporting research on its effectiveness. OER in Kenyan higher education significantly enhances knowledge access, fosters collaborative creation, and empowers student learning outcomes. Despite challenges, concerted efforts in policy, culture, faculty development, infrastructure, awareness, and research can effectively leverage OER to democratize education and enrich the higher education landscape in Kenya.

Textbook costs remain a significant barrier to student success in higher education. Open Educational Resources (OER) offer a promising solution by reducing costs and allowing content adaptation. This study examines the perceptions and use of OER by 70 faculty members at a small liberal arts college (Franklin College) through a campus-wide survey assessing faculty knowledge, motivations, challenges, and experiences with OER. Results show growing awareness and use of OER, especially for improving student affordability and access. However, many faculty still need more support to adopt and adapt OER in their courses fully. The study identified a group of experienced faculty who are not only using OER but also actively adapting and remixing materials to fit their teaching needs. Most discovered OER through online repositories, general internet searches, and recommendations from colleagues. Overall, faculty rated the quality of OER positively, though gaps in subject-specific content and in alternative formats such as datasets and assessments remain. Based on these findings, the study offers recommendations, including institution-based training programmes, peer-led workshops led by experienced faculty, and incentives for OER adoption and creation. Overall, faculty are motivated by equity and effectiveness, and with proper support, can play a key role in expanding OER use. These insights offer a roadmap for institutions seeking to scale OER use while fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and innovative teaching culture.

The paper focuses on promoting open education and free educational resources. The dynamics of the changes that take place in the world are a challenge for all actors in the education system. Accepting and promoting the postmodern paradigm, based on humanism and constructivism, approaching education from the perspective of the learner and developing the education process from the perspective of the pedagogy focused on competences are just some of the new imperatives. All these realities require a resizing of the educational process and resources, but also of the purposes. Training systems must contribute to meeting the increasingly pressing need for continuous updating of knowledge and skills in the conditions of an increasingly expanded international labor market, while at the same time pursuing greater efficiency and equity. In this context, there is also widespread use, including in the education system, of technologies and information resources, as well as facilitating, through them, access and exchange of information. Electronic resources, online content and virtual educational spaces offer the latest, most diverse information and continuing education opportunities. In recent years, the issues directly related to open data / open educational resources are being widely addressed by the international educational community. At European level, a series of actions were carried out regarding the promotion of open data, in order to improve the quality and access to education, the European Commission elaborating a series of public policy documents that encourage the re-use of information in innovative ways and the design of educational materials under open licenses. Over the last decade, the supply of OER in the world has grown exponentially. However, while there is an increasing variety of subjects, OERs are typically produced in a limited number of languages (mainly in English), and used by certain sectors of education (especially higher education) and specific disciplines.