A Golden Combi?! - Open Educational Resources and Open, Flexible and Distance Learning

This final report of the ICDE Global Task Force on Open Educational Resources addresses the relevance of the worldwide OER movement to educational institutions - such as ICDE member institutions - engaged in the field of open, flexible and distance learning. The composition of the Task Force, with members from open and distance learning universities around the world, sought to provide representation for OER developments worldwide. In order to gain an overview of the penetration of OER developments and involvement, an initial survey of ICDE member institutions was conducted. The Task Force found that it could build on a report from OECD on OER that was published just as the Task Force held its launch meeting. The OECD report "Giving Knowledge for Free: the Emergence of Open Educational Resources" 3 gives a very thorough overview of OER developments so far and in addition identifies the major problems and topics for further consideration. The Task Force has used this report for general reference and has focused on the topics and issues that are particularly relevant for open and distance learning institutions, concentrating on higher education. The ICDE SCOP Meeting 2007 at OUNL in Heerlen, The Netherlands was used to consult the presidents and rectors of ICDE member institutions on the expected outcomes of the Task Force's work. This Final Report describes major milestones during the work of the Task Force and summarizes its conclusions and recommendations in a final chapter.