oerforum: Arab OER Forum

Arab Open Education Resources (OER)

UNESCO Cairo Office organized the “Exploratory Workshop on the Use of Open Education Resources (OER’s) for Arab States” in Amman, Jordan on 21 and 22 November 2016. This event brought together over 50 stakeholders from the ICT in education field from 13 Arab States, to examine how OER’s can contribute to enhancing the quality of education in the region.

As a result of the meeting a regional Arab OER Forum was established and as decision take to create an online community of practice.

The goals of the Arab OER Forum are:

1. Assess and further develop awareness and understanding of open educational resources (OER’s) across Arab states;

2. Explore in a reflective manner OER’s potential for enhancing the quality of learning and learning outcomes in "normal" and crisis situations;

3. Disseminate experiences related to the development and adoption of OER’s in the Arab region;

4. Understand the success factors for the effective use of OER’s in Arab States;

5. Identify key areas and/or pilot initiatives where OER’s could enhance learning outcomes in Arab States to which UNESCO could contribute;

6f. Implement the agenda and action plan agreed during the Workshop for regional OER activities;

7. Raise awareness of the forthcoming 2nd World OER Congress, to be held from 18 to 20 September, 2017 in Slovenia with a view to developing linkages and ownership of Arab states in this international process.

The Arab countries represented in the workshop:

Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Bahrain

Jordan.