This workshop will explore the potential of Open Educational Resources (OER) to promote and mainstream Global Education (GE). GE is an educational approach to create knowledge, skills, and awareness and to provide training for responsible global citizenship from a lifelong development perspective (Altun, 2017). In our increasingly interconnected and interdependent modern world, it is crucial to prioritise the development of global awareness among individuals, particularly those in the Global South, to equip them with the necessary skills and understanding to navigate and contribute positively to a complex, diverse, and rapidly changing world. By leveraging OER, GE can overcome existing obstacles and transcend geographical and socioeconomic barriers, enabling individuals to access and utilise GE content and acquire competencies and knowledge to navigate our contemporary interconnected world (Arinto, Hodgkinson-Williams & Trotter, 2017). Watson et al. (2023) argue that adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) can be an effective strategy for achieving equity, diversity, and inclusion, aligning closely with the GE concept and its principles.
Research indicates that OER can play a role in mainstreaming and promoting GE. For example, Hodgkinson-Williams & Arinto (2020) propose that the transformative potential of OER in democratising access to resources can develop and nurture global citizens to contribute to solution-finding to the global complexities of a highly globalised society and challenge existing structural inequalities that hamper the voices and knowledge of the global south. Recognising the importance and role OER can play, this workshop provides an opportunity for participants to explore how OER and open education, in general, can promote and mainstream GE through access, equity, and innovation of resources, particularly for populations, educators, and students in developing settings. In particular, participants will discuss practical strategies for identifying, adapting, and creating OER that incorporates global education themes such as cultural diversity, global issues, and intercultural competencies, as well as key considerations for ensuring accessibility, relevance, and ethical use of OER-GE-oriented resources in various contexts. Through five dynamic and active group sessions, participants will actively engage in a hands-on activity to brainstorm ideas, and strategies, and identify scenario-based design challenges for the real world of integrating GE within OER.
The itinerary for this workshop includes: 10 minutes: introduction to workshop objectives and overview of global education. 25 minutes: group work activities where each group focuses on a particular global challenge or issue. They will brainstorm ideas, and strategies, and identify OERs to address the issue. Through group work, they will also explore challenges of leveraging OER to address global issues. 20 minutes: Discussion of groups to present their outcomes and feedback from the groups. 5 minutes: Wrap up, a summary of key takeaways, and Q&A
Dr. Vi Truong and Mr. Abiud Bosire will facilitate the workshop. Abiud Bosire will provide an overview of GE and why it is important to provide and produce GE materials as OER. Dr. Truong and Mr. Bosire will, together with other participants, participate in group activities.
Included in
[Session 2B]: SustainabilityReferencesAltun, M. (2017). What Global Education should focus on. International Journal of Social Sciences and Educational Studies, 4(1), 82-86.
https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v4i1p82 Arinto, P. B., Hodgkinson-Williams, C. & Trotter, H. (2017). OER and OEP in the Global South: Implications and recommendations for social inclusion. In C. Hodgkinson- Williams & P. B. Arinto (Eds.), Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South (pp. 577–592).
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1043829 Gougou, S., & Paschal, M. (2023). Integrating Open Educational Resources to support transformative approach in English as a foreign language in Africa. Canadian Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 26-44.
Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Arinto, P. (2020, April 1). Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South. OAPEN Home.
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/29431 Watson, E., Petrides, L., Karaglani, A., Burns, S., & Sebesta, J. (2023). Leveraging Open Educational Resources to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion: A guide for campus change agents. AAC&U.
https://www.aacu.org/publication/leveraging-oer-to-advance-dei William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (2017). Open educational resources.
http://www.hewlett.org/strategy/open-educational-resources/Author KeywordsOpen Educational Resources, Global Education, Low-resourced settings
