Open Educational Resources for STEM Educational opportunities in a culture of digitality
Children and young people need access to high-quality education no matter where they are on earth. This belief is anchored in the United Nations Agenda 2030 and forms an important pillar of our work at Siemens Stiftung. We believe Open Educational Resources (OER) are a large part of the solution. We have joined a global movement in support of a culture of sharing that benefits everyone – not only when schools are closed and children are learning at home, but on a permanent basis .
Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that are accessible free of charge and may be used, modified and redistributed by all under an open license.
This is described by UNESCO in their Paris Declaration of 2012, which sets out fundamental principles and goals for the promotion of Open Educational Resources, emphasizing their significance for inclusive, high-quality education.
In addition to UNESCO, renowned educational institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Khan Academy support the OER movement.
»Open educational resources represent a unique tool to foster learning and knowledge sharing, which are essential to build inclusive knowledge societies and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal.«
UNESCO (2019): Recommendation on Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources for STEM lessons
Our Media Portal contains more than 3,400 free OER for science and technology lessons: Interactive media, graphics, audio files, worksheets, experimentation instructions, and videos. They are available in English and German and have been created and evaluated by subject experts. To create transparent copyright guidelines for the materials’ authors and the teachers, we use the standard CC license from the nonprofit “Creative Commons.” This makes it clear that if the same copyright is retained, anyone may use, adapt, and share the content.
Since November 2021, we have made around 1,700 Spanish-language media available on our education portal for Latin America: CREA (Centro de Recursos Educativos Abiertos). It was created against the backdrop of Latin America’s vibrant OER movement, which has grown enormously in recent years and received an additional boost due to the need of online learning following COVID-19. It brings together open teaching materials from Siemens Stiftung and its partner institutions in the Red STEM Latinoamérica network. The Office for Climate Education materials can also be found in it. The materials from the STEM sector (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, technology) place an increased focus on education for sustainable development.
Strong networks for OER and digital learning
We know that many countries do not have access to OER portals or lack the technical devices needed to work with the materials. To help address this issue, we provide our open educational media in analog form to universities and schools with whom we work in these regions. As part of the UNESCO Global Education Coalition, we are working to expand access to OER so it is universally available to all. We also advocate for more OER and digital learning in the classroom on national committees, such as the German Forum Education Digitalisation. In Latin America, we cooperate with education partners and universities from all over the continent through the Red STEM Latinoaméricanetwork: The new Centro Recursos Educativos Abiertos contains around 700 teaching and learning materials specifically designed for use in Latin American schools.
In collaboration with the UNESCO Chair for Open Education at TEC de Monterrey and the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE), we have been raising awareness of the use of OER and providing skills for their use and production since 2021. Together, we are committed to disseminating open educational resources for STEM lessons in the region and to implementing, adapting, and evaluating them at the local level with the help of the pooled expertise of our network partners.
An ecosystem for the future of education
Ecosistema abierto en el futuro de la educación (2022)
What does open education mean and what is the movement behind it? The handbook “Ecosistema abierto en el futuro de la educación” examines the topic of “Open Education” from different dimensions and provides numerous practical examples. It was produced as part of the “STEAM-OER-LATAM” project in collaboration with the University TEC, Mexico.
One of the most important goals of the United Nations‘ 2030 Agenda is “inclusive, equitable, and high-quality education for all”. Today more than ever, the global community is called upon to work together to promote universal access to information and knowledge. With our commitment to open education materials, we are helping to make this goal a reality. Open Educational Resources not only open up equal educational opportunities, but also create space for innovative and inclusive learning:
- OER create educational opportunities. It is not just about who will create textbooks and other teaching materials in the future, OER promotes equality in education and opportunities for the future. The appropriate materials that support quality education for children are not yet available everywhere. Like UNESCO, we consider OER to be an effective way to “democratize education.” Their digital availability means they can be accessed anywhere in the world – including regions where teaching and learning materials are not yet affordable for everyone.
- OER allow for individual promotion:
From our work with teachers and students, we know there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach in the classroom. Classrooms are becoming more diverse, and teaching materials need to be modified to suit different needs. However, modifying existing materials is a challenge due to prevailing copyright systems. Fortunately, OER can be modified legally, which includes anything from adapting materials to a country’s cultural circumstances or shaping them to address the unique learning and educational needs of a particular class. The flexibility aligns OER with important criteria for differentiated, inclusive lessons.
- Active OER collaborations: Open educational media helps form new ideas for innovative teaching and learning methods. They also encourage collaboration: this is not limited to interactions between teachers and students, but also includes peer-to-peer collaboration among teachers. By linking the creative potential of many people, new materials on current subjects emerge that have not yet reached the textbooks, equipping individual learners with the education they need in a rapidly changing and dynamic world.
"The decision for OER was the right one!"
As a non-profit foundation, we don’t just do educational work – we drive the dissemination of OER. In an interview with Jöran Muuß-Meerholz from OERinfo, our OER expert Corinna Hartung talks about why we were one of the first portals in Germany to set out on the path to an open education platform and what we have learned since then.
"OER for STEM education with co-construction, contextualization and holism."
Anna Vater, specializing in OER in Latin America, reports on Siemens Stiftung’s new OER portal for Latin America Centro de Recursos Educativos Abiertos (CREA) and the important role a strong partner network plays in the context of the Open Education Global Conference 2022.
Newsletter
Current Open Educational Resources for STEM subjects, numerous practical tips for their use in the classroom as well as advanced training seminars for teachers|educators can be found in our two newsletters!
AccessSTEM
OER offer a wide range of educational opportunities. What happens when there is a lack of digital access? In cooperation with BLUETOWN: Connecting the unconnected, a local cloud is being created for teachers in Ghana.
Media Portal for STEM teaching
In the Siemens Stiftung Media Portal, teachers will find some 3,200 Open Educational Resources in German and English that they can incorporate into varied and exciting STEM lessons. Numerous advanced training seminars and a dedicated student area are included in the portal.
CREA: El Portal de Medios para la Enseñanza STEM
The Spanish-language education portal CREA provides 1,300 items of open-license STEM media that have been developed and made available by Siemens Stiftung and prestigious network partners such as the nonprofit organization INNOVEC and the Office for Climate Education.
Background material and websites
Commonwealth of Learning: Open Educational Resources. Global Report (2017)
Creative Commons: State of the Commons
OECD: Open Educational Resources. A Catalyst for Innovation (2015)
UNESCO: OER Paris Declaration (2012)
UNESCO: German OER Practices and Policy – from Bottom-up to Top-down Initiatives (2018)
UNESCO: Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (2019)
UNESCO: Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies (2019)
UNESCO: Call for Joint Action – Supporting Learning and Knowledge Sharing through Open Educational Resources (2020)
Brochure: STEM Education Initiative for Innovation in Latin America