Impact

The kick-off of X5GON was in parallel with the 2^nd UNESO World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress (Monday 18.9 to Wednesday 20.9 2017) and Artificial Intelligence: Research, Technology and Business in OER satellite event (Monday 18.9 to Tuesday 19.9 2017), both designed and organized by X5GON personnel. Key results of both events are the Dynamic Coalition in OER, Ljubljana OER Action Plan Document and Ministers Statement.

The Ljubljana OER Action Plan focuses on actions – what needs to be done by governments, and all stakeholders in education – with the understanding that certain actions will be more relevant to certain stakeholders than others. In this regard five Challenges that hinder the mainstreaming of OER have been identified:

1. Capacity of users to find, re-use, create, and share OER;
2. Language and cultural issues;
3. Ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality OER;
4. Changing sustainability models;
5. Developing supportive policy environments.

All of these challenges are also being addresses by X5GON.

The 2nd World OER Congress Ministerial Statement was adopted at the Ministerial Roundtable held during the Congress. This Ministerial Statement underscores the need for a “Dynamic Coalition to expand and consolidate commitments to actions, strategies and legislation” in OER, and includes a “call on all educational stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the Ljubljana OER Action Plan 2017.

This Ministerial Statement was endorsed by 20 Ministers and their designated representatives participating in the Congress, namely representatives from: Bangladesh, Barbados, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lithuania, Malta, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Palestine, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.