The OEP Guidelines enable learners, educational practitioners, leaders of organisations, and policy makers to plot their trajectory on the path to open educational practices. This begins with assessing your current position, through the creation of a vision for openness and a strategy for open practices, and finally to implementing and promoting open educational practices.

Different stages are relevant for different contexts, and you can choose the stations on the metromap acording to your situation:

• Learners
• Educational practitioners
• Leaders of organisations
• Policy makers

(Tip: hold down the [ctrl] key and press ‘+’ a few times to increase the size. Repeat this with ‘-’ to reduce the size again)

Examples of best practice

Within each of the stages shown under the metromap, the main considerations are listed. Linked to these are example of best practice which have been submitted through the OEP Best Practice Clearing House.

Report on best practice

A report has also been compiled detailing the process of collecting examples of open educational practice through the OEP Best Practice Clearing House, and the OEP Maturity Self-Assessments which are stored in the OEP Register. This can downloaded from the OPAL website.

About the OPAL Initiative

The Open Educational Quality Initiative is a European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme supported project which has run through 2010 and 2011 to promote open educational practices. Partners include UNESCO, the International Council for Open and Distance Education, the European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning, and a number of leading European universities. The OPAL Initiative is coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Metromap designed by Inger Richter, Bonn, Germany.

A grant was made available for each of the winning entries to make a video film describing their practices. A link to the films, the jury’s statements, and interviews with the recipients can be accessed through the links below.

Winners and highly commended entries

The Award for Bodies which Influence Policy

Winner: The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), USA   More

The Award for Institutions

Winner: University of California, Irvine, USA   More

Highly commended: Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, India   More

The Award for Learning contexts

Winner: Open Science Resources, represented by Ellinogermaniki Agogi – Research and Development Department, Greece   More

Highly commended: The LORO Project, Department of Languages, The Open University UK   More

Interviews with recipients part 1   Interviews with recipients part 2

Awards Ceremony

The Awards ceremony began with a presentation of the results of the OPAL Initiative by Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, President of EFQUEL (left). He also demonstrated the newly published OPAL metromap, an interactive tool allowing policy makers, institutional leaders, teaching professionals and learners the opportunity to plot their trajectory on the road to open educational practices.

Gráinne Conole of the University of Leicester, UK (right) concluded the session with a presentation on the future of open educational practices. A panel discussion was also held with representatives of the winning and highly commended entries.

The OPAL Awards were run by project partner, the International Council for Open and Distance Education, together with UNESCO and EFQUEL The OPAL Initiative is coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen, and also includes The Open University UK, Aalto University and the Catholic University of Portugal

Media release

Photos and interviews by Chahira Nouira, United Nations University Vice Rectorate in Europe

The attached media release describes the winners and grounds for their selection.

Media Release – The OPAL Awards 2011

Gráinne Conole received the award on behalf of Lisa Petrides, Director of ISKME, at the awards ceremony.

Since 2009, ISKME has trained over 1,500 teachers from 25 countries with focus on collaborative innovation and social learning using open curriculum and open teacher-led approaches. Their OER-focused programs are designed to empower teachers to take an active leadership role in educational resource reform, encourage collaboration, drive innovation  and explore emerging economic models for sustaining high-quality learning content that is accessible by anyone. ISKME’s approach allows teachers to gain leadership and support to adapt and develop resources for their own needs, and then to share those resources with others.

ISKME website

Jury statement

In its statement, the jury concluded that ISKME has proven its effectiveness in providing teachers with the tools and skills to challenge policy in their institutions and home countries from the bottom-up. The Institute has both inspired and disseminated policies to other parts of the world, having worked with teachers from 25 countries, uses a Wiki to provide continual support to its stakeholders, and demonstrates strong partnerships – including with Africa.

The jury for this Award consisted of Anthony Camilleri of the European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning (Chair), Minh Do, VOER Program Director at The Vietnam Foundation, and Dr. Bianca Maria Santana de Brito of The University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Video film describing open educational practices

See details of all initiatives recognized in the OPAL Awards