What is the value of using OER in European Higher Education and Business?

By completing this survey you are automatically part of a lottery to win one of three free tickets to ICDE’s Virtual Global Conference Week in October 2021. The winners will be contacted on the 10th of September. Please find more information about the conference here: https://www.icde.org/virtual-global-conference-week  

Survey on the value of using OER in Europe:
https://ww3.unipark.de/uc/Encore/90c3/  
Time: 8-10 minutes

European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education (ENCORE+) kicked off in January and the project team have since then worked to further strengthen the European OER Ecosystem concept and prepare for the first virtual events coming up in September and October. ENCORE+ is supported through the European Commission, Knowledge Alliances, and responds directly to the UNESCO recommendations to strengthen collaboration between education and training stakeholders in order to build stronger and more resilient education systems through improved access and use of quality OER. 

When it comes to OER, all insights of the recent decade show that what is needed for free and open learning materials to be successful is trust. Teachers, learners and trainers in higher education and business need to be involved, be it in the creation or co-creation, in the community of origin or have some kind of relation and perception of value to the repository where it is available. 

At ENCORE+, we have therefore decided to launch the largest ever OER value survey. For the first time ever, the survey is not only addressing higher education but also businesses. 

Let’s change the face of OER in Europe. Let’s move from fragmentation to coherence and collaboration. Let’s boost cooperation between higher education and business. 

About the Survey

The survey is part of the first ever European investigation in order to map out the potential and attitudes towards open educational resources (OER). We are interested in your motives to use or produce OER in higher education or business. Why is it of value to you? What are your innovation gains and business cases? We are also interested in whether your institution has an official OER programme or policy in place.

The survey is addressed to those in the following positions:

• Leaders and Managers in higher education or businesses (Institutional Policy and Decision Makers in higher education and business, e.g. Rectors, Deans, Vice-presidents, Board Members, Heads of…)
• Educational Professionals in either higher education (e.g. Teachers, OER Creators, Researchers in the field, Curriculum Developers, Quality Professionals) or business (i.e. HR Professionals, Training & Development Managers)

In this regard we are asking you to please help us by filling in the survey, and to share it within your networks. The survey is designed to only take 8-10 minutes of your time. 

The survey can be found here: https://ww3.unipark.de/uc/Encore/90c3/  

After the Survey

The results of the survey will be shared in the fall of 2021, and you will be invited to access data and the results directly. This will give you unique insight into attitudes and perceived values associated with OER usage and creation. 

Leaving your name and contact information when completing the survey will enable us to invite you to upcoming ENCORE+ events, where we will apply the results from this survey to build the European OER Ecosystem. 

Winners of 3 free tickets to ICDE’s Virtual Global Conference Week will be contacted on the 10th of September 2021. 

Join the Discussion: What is the Value of OER?

Join ENCORE+ in a live event discussing the value of OER in higher education and business. We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas on July 26th from 12:30 to 13:15 CEST. We will present some preliminary results from the survey, and look forward to discussing these with you. 

Bring your lunch, grab a coffee, and take part in the discussions. 

More information about the event:  stay tuned
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82937829923

Stay Connected with ENCORE+

If this is a subject of relevance for you, we would like to invite you to the upcoming circle events. The survey feeds directly into the work of building the European OER Ecosystem. The OER Ecosystem will be divided into 4 circles, each focusing on 1 theme. (create 4 event pages on website)

	Innovation and Business Models	Monday 27th of September 13:00 (CEST)
	Policies and Practice	Thursday 30th of September: 11:00 (CEST)
	Quality	Part of ICDE Virtual Global Conference Week 25th – 29th October: Date and Time TBD
	OER Technology	Part of ICDE Virtual Global Conference Week 25th – 29th October: Date and Time TBD

To get updates and invitations to register to the circle events, please sign up to receive updates about the project through the Newsletter.