Minh Do becomes Member of the Jury for the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative 2011

On Friday, September 16, 2011, Mr. Minh Do, Director of Vietnam OER Program, got the invitation from Ms. Zeynep Varoglu  (UNESCO) and Mr. Nick Moe-Pryce (ICDE) to be Member of the Jury for  the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative. The OPAL Initiative aims to promote the production, use and reuse of open educational resources. The OPAL Awards are developed by the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative (www.oer-quality.org).

The OPAL Awards provide exposure and recognition for successful open educational practices which have resulted in the improvement of quality and innovation. The European Commission is the main funding body for this initiative and partners include UNESCO, the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and The Open University UK.

The OPAL Awards for quality and innovation through open educational practices recognise outstanding achievements in the fields of open educational resources policy and promotion and use of OER. Open educational resources are learning materials which are made freely available for others to adapt and use. The Awards were launched to provide exposure and recognition for successful open educational practices, a new concept of best practices in the use and production of freely available resources.

The OPAL Awards are conceived as part of the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative www.oerquality.org, supported by the European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme. The OPAL Initiative consists of partners including UNESCO, the International Council for Open and Distance Education, the European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning and a number of leading European universities.

The OPAL Initiative has published guidelines for open educational practices, has developed databases of best practices at individual and educational institution levels, and has worked to influence policy in colleges and universities, and at the national and regional level. The OPAL Awards are the culmination of this project, to showcase achievements in policy, institutions, and learning contexts, and to demonstrate that these lead to improvement of quality and innovation.

From the left to right: Joel, David, Minh and Arash in the Creative Commons Summit 2008

The jury for this Award consisted of Anthony Camilleri of the European Foundation for Quality in eLearning (Chair), Minh Do, VOER Program Director at The Vietnam Foundation, and Dr. Bianca Maria Santana de Brito of The University of São Paulo, Brazil. Media-Release-The-OPAL-Awards-2011

The time commitment envisaged for this role was as follows:

Jury members then were publicly thanked at the Awards ceremony at Online Educa Berlin, Germany in December and through the OPAL website and communications channels including those of partner organisations.

Updated: See summary of the OPAL awards https://www.openeducationeuropa.eu/en/news/open-educational-practices-recognised-through-opal-awards