Friday, 17 of November 2017, within the Educational Center PRO DIDACTICA (Armeneasca 13 str., Chisinau), a closing Conference “Open Education in Moldova: Here and Now” – phase II was held. This event was attended by policy makers from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova, members of the Coalition for Open Educational Resources in Moldova, representatives from the General Departments of Education, Youth and Sport, trainers of the Center, finalists of the OER Contest, as well as didactical staff from schools and universities, interested in the issue.

During the event, the EC PRO DIDACTICA presented the achievements of the project Open Education in Moldova: Here and Now – phase II,  which was implemented in the period October 2016 – December 2017, with financial support of the Institute of Open Society Foundation, in cooperation with the Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundation; the relevant use of OER for different educational actors was debated; the results for the Republican Contest of the best open educational resources, determining a better access for an open education and the Guide “Open Educational Resources: opportunities for access, quality and relevance” have also been presented.

At the Contest participated more than 40 teachers, 20 of them, authors of original digital teaching materials, including teaching projects, presentations, blogs and educational movies coming to the final stage. The finalists were chosen by an independent jury formed of experts in the field, based on objective criteria’s set in advance. The winning works will get free license and will become open educational resources, for every person interested in adapting it to his own necessities (http://red.prodidactica.md/resurse-red/red-nationale/).

The aim of the project was to continue to promote an advocacy campaign for fostering changes in policy documents which are important for incorporating OER in policies and to strengthen the capacity of teachers in providing access to quality education for all through sharing OER in a transparent and efficient way. Among action beneficiaries there are pupils, teachers, institutions, parents, students, political actors, public institutions, ONGs etc.

According to the definition proposed by UNESCO in 2002, OER are educational resources that can be used and reused freely, without restrictions, legal and technological costs, by anyone. Their use in the performance of public programs is one of the basic principles of good governance: what is produced on public money should be available to the public free of charge. In Moldova, the activity of producing RED is in its early stages, but there are significant opportunities for the future. The expected impact is the development and production use OER practices in Moldova, in order to include OER in existing and future educational policies.

Project expert: dr.hab. conf.univ. Viorica Goraş-Postică
Coordinator: Cristina Bujac, EC PRO DIDACTICA
Contacts: cbujac@prodidactica.md

Tel. 069233782

On 19th October 2017, at the EC PRO DIDACTICA, the second group of teachers from different disciplines met at the evaluation and certification seminar in the field of OER, after the training programme held in April 2017. The digital competences developed and used in the classroom have been evaluated and self-assessed, focusing on the exchange of experience and mutual learning through computer-assisted training.

We also found that the interest of the trainees for the studied subject is still increased, concrete practices of creative development, search and efficient use of national and international OER have been presented.

The situation regarding the electronic equipment in the schools presented  is very different: from those in which elementary is a lack of an electrical outlet in the classroom up to those with a laptop on the table of each teacher and permanent wi-fi connection. We have very much appreciated the teacher-student partnerships, but also those between teachers from several disciplines, which bring significant value to the use and creation of OER. The majority of the trainees have been participated in the Contest on developing OER (phase II),  which was organized in the same project in the previous months, and awaits the results, but also the placement of the works on the page http://red.prodidactica.md/resurse-red/red-nationale/

All the presented works have captured our attention through quality and creativity, so we joyfully mention the following participants: Raisa Condrea, Viorica Vulpe, Nadejda Iacob, Liubovi Dvornic, Rodica Gheţu, Diana Ţapuchevici etc.

We look forward to the works that have not participated in the Contest, but the authors agree to offer them as open resources for placing on the above site, to be corrected and submitted to the following e-mail: prodidactica@prodidactica.md in order to further complete the arsenal of educational resources, available online for anyone who wants and understands/appreciates the benefits of digital resources in enhancing the quality and relevance of education in the 21st century.

Viorica Goraş-Postică, trainer
Cristina Bujac, project coordinator

On 25 August 2017, over 30 teachers from 17 educational institutions from different localities of the country participated for the fourth consecutive year in a training program for the professional empowerment to teach the new optional discipline “The Culture of Good Neighborhood”, in fourth grade. The seminar took place within the project “Educating Culture of Peace trough Good Neighborhood in Primary School”, implemented throughout the Republic of Moldova, including the Transnistrian region, with the financial support of the international network for peacebuilding – GPPAC (The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts) www.gppac.net.

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