The workshops highlighted that in times of higher demand on institutions to provide greater access with dwindling resources, universities have to tackle this challenge innovatively and creatively. This imperative was linked to governmental policies on funding for learning outputs, as well as institutional policies and recognition of materials development. The workshop identified as a major barrier the absence of clear policies and budget commitments for quality teaching at institutional as well as governmental levels (Anthony, 2010). Participants expressed a need for much more information, capacity-building and policy guidance. The workshops also reiterated some of the benefits of OER, such as reduced time lag between producing and using materials, relevance, reuse, contextualisation and customisation (including localisation and translation into local languages), supported by evidence such as Baraniuk (2008) has outlined. The most prevalent issue emanating from the workshops was how to invest in quality teaching and resources, in a context where higher education policies and budgetary frameworks tend to accord higher status to research activities than to teaching and learning activities. However, OER poses a threat to some institutions’ business models and to the retail value of learning materials. In the light of these practices, participants from open universities were not convinced that OER is an option for (open) universities and requested further debate and dialogue on the issue. Significant attention was also given to ICT platforms and technical requirements for accessing and repurposing OER. Three online discussion forums took place to expand participation in the initiative, raise awareness and promote informed discussion and debate amongst stakeholders in higher education. The forums focussed on different OER issues, such as policy, capacity, licensing, use and reuse of OER, as well as considering practical issues in the implementation of OER. These discussions were mainly conducted at a practitioner’s level. They confirmed a need for continued dialogue, building capacity in implementation, policy guidance for both governments and institutions on the promotion of quality teaching and learning as well as the centrality of quality teaching and learning materials, and the positive impact of OER on the quality of teaching and learning. In December 2010, UNESCO and COL invited Member States to a policy forum on OER in Paris to reflect on progress and chart the next steps in the process. The policy forum recommended that there be continued dialogue and capacitybuilding on the issues around OER, and that COL and UNESCO develop policy guidelines for different stakeholder groups to support the integration of OER into higher education. Throughout the initiative, there was firm support of the value of OER for addressing the central issues of the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education, viz: • Promoting quality teaching as a core function of higher education. • Retaining quality teaching staff who embrace changed pedagogy and the use of OER. • Supporting teaching staff to improve the quality of teaching, as well as incentivising quality teaching.
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