Panel: Can open educational resources enhance the quality of teaching?
(Zagreb, February 26, 2024) The University Computing Centre of the University of Zagreb (SRCE) is participating once again in the celebration of International Open Education Week by organizing a panel discussion titled "Can open educational resources enhance the quality of teaching?" which will be held on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at SRCE, Josipa Marohnića 5, starting at 11:00 a.m.
The issue of ensuring the quality of teaching has been relevant since the very beginning of higher education, and today, in the era of digital education encompassing a wide range of digital tools, technologies, and resources aimed at improving learning, it becomes even more significant. From the perspective of quality assurance, teaching materials need to be considered in the context of open education. The use of open educational resources in teaching promotes quality, transparency, as well as a culture of openness, and encourages active student participation in course content creation in line with the guidelines of the Bologna Process. Technological solutions for storing and exchanging digital educational resources already exist, but the challenge still lies with teachers who often are not sufficiently familiar with what open educational resources are, how they can share their own content, nor do they have information under what conditions educational materials from other authors are available in open access (if available). The question arises as to how to encourage teachers to shape these materials according to the principles of open educational resources and to exchange them with other teachers and students. Effective reuse of open educational resources therefore requires strategic planning, organization, as well as teacher education.
Panelists, including Prof. Mihaela Banek Zorica from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Sandra Bezjak, MSc, Assistant Director for Higher Education at the Agency for Science and Higher Education, Doc. Maja Gligora Marković, Deputy Chair of the Commission for Online Learning at the University of Rijeka from the School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Prof. Renata Mekovec, Chair of the Quality Assurance Commission at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, and Dr. Ana Tecilazić, Quality Vice-Rector at Algebra University, will discuss various issues related to open educational resources, such as how to ensure the quality of teaching, to what extent the administrations of higher education institutions and teachers are familiar with and use open educational resources, to what extent they promote openness principles in the educational process, and what steps need to be taken to promote openness and greater availability of quality teaching materials.
About Open Education Week
Open Education Week is a global initiative organized since 2012 with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of open education and its impact on contemporary learning methods worldwide. SRCE has been actively participating in it for 10 consecutive years. For many years, SRCE has actively promoted the systematic application of open education principles, the development and application of open educational resources and practices at institutions within the higher education system. As an example and encouragement to others, SRCE's educational materials are publicly available and open access. SRCE also leads initiatives to gather a community of creators of open educational resources and open education, with the aim of providing students with the best and highest quality learning experience during their studies.
