Dubai has grow to be the first metropolis inside the Arab global to host the UNESCO World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress, which opened today on the Dubai World Trade Centre. The prestigious event, held underneath the subject matter “Digital Public Goods: Open Solutions and AI for Inclusive Access to Knowledge,” brings together over 500 participants from across the globe, along with policymakers, academics, innovators, and key figures from the personal area. The two-day congress, prepared through UNESCO in collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF), targets to explore the transformative capability of open academic resources (OER) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create extra inclusive, equitable, and sustainable education systems international.
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Inaugurates the Congress
The congress was inaugurated by way of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, who introduced the hole speech. In her deal with, Sheikha Latifa emphasised the important function of the event in advancing open instructional assets as a way to enhance get entry to to know-how. She highlighted the significance of virtual schooling in addressing global demanding situations, expanding possibilities, and ensuring transparency in expertise. She additionally known as for the development of certified applications that offer dependable records, essential for shaping the future of schooling on a international scale.
Sheikha Latifa’s speech underscored Dubai’s position as a main hub for innovation and expertise sharing, and the city’s commitment to fostering global collaboration to enhance education through generation. The occasion is a key opportunity for governments, corporations, and specialists to align their efforts closer to constructing inclusive instructional ecosystems which might be both handy and sustainable.
High-Level Discussions on Open Solutions and AI
The congress featured a series of high-level panels, breakout periods, and expert discussions that targeted at the position of open academic assets and AI in shaping the destiny of schooling. One of the key sessions, the “Ministerial Panel: Shaping the Future of Education,” featured extraordinary audio system including Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education of Ghana, and Dr. Dingara Jacques Sosthène, Minister of National Education in Burkina Faso. These policymakers shared their insights on how OER and open answers may be leveraged to deal with the academic needs in their respective countries and beyond. Their discussions emphasised the importance of modern regulations and international collaboration in promoting educational inclusion.
Another super session titled “Policies for Openly Licensed Learning Content” protected audio system from across the globe, along with Dr. Abdul Latheef Mohamed, Minister of State for Education, Maldives, and Shannielle Hoosein-Outar, Permanent Secretary for Education in Guyana. The consultation explored how brazenly licensed getting to know content can play a essential function in advancing schooling, specifically in countries with limited get admission to to conventional instructional assets.
Harnessing AI and OER for Digital Inclusion
The consultation “Harnessing OER and Generative AI for Digital Inclusion” explored the intersection of open academic sources and synthetic intelligence in riding academic fairness. Chaired by Dr. Colin de la Higuera, UNESCO Chair in Open Educational Resources, the dialogue added collectively experts like Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, who highlighted how OER may be used to obtain gender parity in education. Seizo Onoe, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), mentioned AI’s position in standardizing virtual training for greater inclusion, whilst Kevin Chan, Director for Global Policy Campaign Strategies at Meta Platforms, spoke at the position of AI in promoting language inclusion.
This panel underscored the transformative ability of both AI and OER in addressing the digital divide and selling extra inclusive educational structures, in particular in underserved areas. The discussion focused on how those equipment can ruin down limitations to schooling and create more opportunities for marginalized businesses, along with ladies and youth.
Fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Education Models
The congress additionally featured a panel titled “The Value Proposition for Openly Licensed Learning Content,” which targeted on the price of OER in building sustainable and inclusive training fashions. Chaired by means of Dr. Jane Frances Agbu, Advisor on the Commonwealth of Learning, the panel showcased global pleasant practices and mentioned revolutionary tactics to integrating OER into national instructional frameworks. Speakers protected Anna Tumadóttir, CEO of Creative Commons, Iceland, and Mucktarr M.Y. Darboe, Permanent Secretary from The Gambia, who shared insights into the effect of open licensing on the future of education.
Tuula Yrjölä, Finland’s Ambassador to the UAE and Bahrain, highlighted the function of Finland’s OER Library in selling open educational content material, while Dr. Johanna Börsch-Supan, Director General for General Education, Vocational Training, and Lifelong Learning at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education, mentioned Germany’s country wide OER method thru video. These contributions underscored the importance of presidency involvement in assisting OER tasks and making sure their integration into countrywide schooling structures.
Action Areas and Breakout Sessions
The congress blanketed breakout periods focusing on the implementation of UNESCO’s 2019 Recommendation on OER. The sessions, designed to enhance capability constructing and coverage improvement, addressed key problems which include information protection, privacy, and the ethical use of openly certified content. The discussions additionally explored techniques for constructing sustainable commercial enterprise fashions for OER and making sure that those assets continue to be handy to all.
Action Area 1 focused on potential constructing, exploring how to establish OER repositories and provide focused education in virtual abilities. Action Area 2 focused on policy development, addressing the want for supportive government frameworks to foster OER adoption. The second breakout consultation, covering Action Areas 3 and four, delved into improving the nice, accessibility, and sustainability of OER. These classes tested strategies for making sure that OER is on the market to humans in low-bandwidth environments and for organising excellent warranty mechanisms to maintain excessive academic requirements.
Global Progress on OER Initiatives
Throughout the congress, many countries showcased their progress in implementing OER tips. For instance, Cuba’s Virtual Health University has made extensive strides in healthcare education by using supplying OER-primarily based studying resources to experts in remote areas. Similarly, Madagascar released an e-studying platform in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to bridge academic gaps, distributing drugs and using radio publicizes to attain students in underserved areas. Malaysia’s inclusive OER policy and Morocco’s country wide OER approach for 2024 also obtained attention for his or her modern approaches to increasing access to education and research.
These tasks spotlight the numerous methods wherein OER is being used to cope with global instructional demanding situations, specifically in developing nations, and exhibit the capacity for open educational assets to create greater equitable training structures worldwide.
Conclusion: Dubai’s Role in Advancing Knowledge Sharing
The third UNESCO World OER Congress has efficiently set up Dubai as a international hub for knowledge sharing, digital innovation, and academic collaboration. The congress delivered collectively idea leaders, policymakers, and specialists to talk about solutions for making schooling greater inclusive, accessible, and sustainable via open educational sources and artificial intelligence. With the Dubai Declaration for Action on OER, the occasion concluded with concrete steps to further advance inclusive training and address the demanding situations posed through AI and rising technology.
This congress displays the UAE’s ongoing commitment to fostering worldwide cooperation and innovation in education. By highlighting a success OER initiatives from around the world and fostering discussions at the destiny of virtual studying, the congress has contributed substantially to shaping the destiny of education, putting the degree for persisted progress within the future years.
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