Page 133 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 113

Open Educational Resources (OERs) The Japanese government voted for the
The Open Educational Resources (OERs) new recommendation and the results were
movement was initiated under the leadership reported to and approved by the National
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Diet in November 2020. Pursuant to a request
(MIT) and UNESCO. OER as a term was from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
introduced at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on Science and Technology (MEXT), an OUJ
Open Courseware and defined as “teaching, member joined the UNESCO OER Dynamic
learning and research materials in any Coalition as an expert.
medium – digital or otherwise – that reside
in the public domain or have been released OUJ has participated in some OER
under an open license that permits no-cost movements as an institution that promotes
access, use, adaptation and redistribution open education. Since its establishment,
by others with no or limited restrictions” OUJ’s broadcast materials have been
(UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia, available free of charge to people who
2017, p. 1). Open licensing is built within the are within the coverage of a broadcasting
existing framework of intellectual property station and have a TV and/or radio receiver.
rights as defined by relevant international With the popularization of the Internet and
conventions and respects the authorship of mobile devices, OUJ launched a VOD service
the work. for accessing broadcast materials and most
current students utilize it as the main content
At the second World OER Congress in delivery medium. Some of the VOD materials
Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2017, sustainable are openly available as OERs and anyone
development and management, quality can access them from the OUJ webpage
assurance, copyright and open license, as (https://v.ouj.ac.jp/view/ouj/#/navi/home,
well as technical support using advanced only in Japanese). OUJ has continued to use
search systems were identified as the main the traditional name “OpenCourseware” and
issues for OER. As for the contribution from as of March 2021 the number of available
technologies, while the storage and discovery subjects is 41 courses (consisting of 15 units
of OERs was the priority issue, new uses of each) and 145 units from different courses
OERs were put in the spotlight in the context and programs. In addition, OUJ is a member
of digital transformation. At the 40th session of Open Education Japan (Formerly, Japan
of the General Conference of UNESCO (12-27 OpenCourseware Consortium) and Japan
November 2019), a new recommendation on Massive Open Online Education Promotion
OERs for member countries was approved. Council (JMOOC).

The Open University of Japan (OUJ)