The UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Learning and the University of Nova Gorica, hosted in the first week of July, the first 14 candidates who were selected last year from all over the world, to be guided online towards the implementation of their online courses, together with their mentors and invited speakers. The content of the selected proposals was very diverse, from ‘Catalyzing change’, ‘Archive in fine arts and literature’, to ‘Why infrastructures matter’ (see them all here). In addition to the presentations of their online courses, prepared within this programme, the basics of all the relevant expertise was explained by many distinguished speakers. Furthermore, representatives from various policymakers at global, European and national level, explained to the participants foreseen policies for open education and took part in open Q&As.

Overall, the programme was very rich, whether from the expertise or the policy point of view, while the organisers succeeded in creating a warm atmosphere for creative brainstorming and exchange of knowledge. These aimed at further developing and contributing to proper implementation of the concept of open education, which is facing many challenges, such as quality of OER, copyright, recognition of qualifications and degrees and much more.

Follow-up is foreseen in the coming months. Keep an eye on http://unesco.ijs.si/launching-open-education-for-a-better-world-mentoring-programme/