National Open Educational Resources Policy for Malta
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National Open Educational Resources Policy for Malta National Open Educational Resources Policy for Malta i The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to promote the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. © 2018 by Commonwealth of Learning. National Open Educational Resources Policy for Malta is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence (international): http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-sa/4.0. For the avoidance of doubt, by applying this licence the Commonwealth of Learning does not waive any privileges or immunities from claims that they may be entitled to assert, nor does the Commonwealth of Learning submit itself to the jurisdiction, courts, legal processes or laws of any jurisdiction. This report has been prepared for the Commonwealth of Learning by Mr. Anthony F. Camilleri, Knowledge Innovation Centre. Special thanks to Dr. Alex Grech, Director, Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning, Malta. Published by: COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING 4710 Kingsway, Suite 2500 Burnaby, British Columbia Canada V5H 4M2 Telephone: +1 604 775 8200 Fax: +1 604 775 8210 Web: www.col.org Email: [email protected] ii Contents Abbreviations .........................................................................................................................iv I. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 1 1. Current State of OER in Malta .................................................................................... 2 2. Why OER is Important for Malta ................................................................................. 2 3. Implementation ........................................................................................................... 3 4. Potential Issues ............................................................................................................ 3 II. Introduction: The Status of Education in Malta ............................................................... 4 1. About the Education System ........................................................................................ 4 Structure of the System ................................................................................................... 4 2. Access and Equity ........................................................................................................ 6 3. Quality ........................................................................................................................ 6 4. National Agencies in Education ................................................................................... 7 III. ICT in Education in Malta ......................................................................................... 10 1. Status of ICT in Education (Based on UNESCO Indicators) ...................................... 10 2. National and International Projects and Initiatives ...................................................... 11 One Tablet per Child .................................................................................................... 11 Blockchain in Education ................................................................................................ 11 Groningen Declaration .................................................................................................. 11 IV. Open Educational Resources in Malta ........................................................................ 12 1. Overview of OER ...................................................................................................... 12 2. Why OER is Important for Malta ............................................................................... 12 3. Institutions Using OER ............................................................................................. 13 Ministry for Education and Employment ....................................................................... 13 Educational Institutions ................................................................................................ 13 Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning ............................................................ 14 V. National Consultation: Summary of Major Recommendations ........................................ 15 Legal Limitations to Government Reach over Copyright Policy ...................................... 15 A Model for Resource Curation ..................................................................................... 15 Focus on Lifelong Learning ........................................................................................... 16 Changes of Mentality .................................................................................................... 16 Annexure 1: Draft OER Policy for Education in Malta .......................................................... 17 Appendix 2: Strategic Measures of Strategy 5 of the National Strategy for Lifelong Learning .. 22 Appendix 3: National Consultation ....................................................................................... 25 Participant List ................................................................................................................. 25 People Consulted During Preparation of the Report .......................................................... 25 National Consultation Agenda .......................................................................................... 25 iii Abbreviations AEI Autonomous Educational Institutions COL Commonwealth of Learning DES Directorate for Educational Services DQSE Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education ECDL European Computer Driving Licence ECTS European Credit Transfer and Accumulation Scheme EEA European Economic Area EU European Union FES Foundation for Education Services FTS Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools ICT Information and Communication Technologies ITS Institute for Tourism Studies MCAST Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology MEDE Ministry for Education and Employment MOOC Massively Online Open Course NSO National Statistics Office OE Open Education OEP Open Educational Practices OER Open Educational Resources PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy Study PISA Programme for International Student Assessment SURVEYLANG European Survey on Language Competences TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UoM University of Malta VET Vocational Education and Training iv I. Executive Summary UNESCO has issued two ministerial declarations whereby countries, including Malta, have committed to fostering awareness and use of open educational resources (OER), and to launching national OER policies. In 2012, the European Commission published a recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information, encouraging all EU Member States to put publicly funded research results in the public domain in order to strengthen science and the knowledge-based economy. In May 2016, European ministers endorsed clear ambitions for open access during the Competitiveness Council and agreed on setting a target for reaching full open access to scientific publications by 2020. In a 2017 study, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission found that most Member States have implemented some kind of initiative with regard to open education. The study identified four types of policies for OER in the 28 EU Member States: • Policies focusing specifically on opening up education through the promotion of OER and open educational practices (OEP). • Policies relating to general ICT for learning with some open education component. • Comprehensive strategic educational policies with some open education component. • Polices designed as national open government plans with some open education component. The OER movement originated in the belief that education and knowledge are public goods that should be freely accessible to all. Studies in recent years have found concrete benefits to widespread OER adoption throughout educational systems. Results across multiple studies indicate that students generally achieve the same learning outcomes when OER are utilised and simultaneously save significant amounts of money.1 A 2013 white paper on OER2 found that OER can • radically reduce costs spent on textbooks; • deliver greater learning efficiency in terms of time to complete courses and improve grades; • promote continuous improvement in instruction and personalised learning; • encourage translation and localisation of content; and • offer equal access to knowledge for all. 1 Hilton, J. (2016). Open educational resources and college textbook choices: A review of research on efficacy and perceptions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 64(4), 573–590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-016-9434-9 2 The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (2013). Open educational resources: Breaking the lockbox on education. Retrieved from https://www.hewlett.org/wp- content/uploads/2016/08/OER%20White%20Paper%20Nov%2022%202013%20Final_0.pdf 1 A survey on governments’ OER policies globally, published by the Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO,3 found that governments see the following benefits of OER (ranked in order of importance): • Open and flexible learning opportunities. • Increased efficiency and quality of learning resources. • Cost-efficiency. • Innovative