Strategic Objectives

The openED Project is designed to try to address some of the Objectives and Priorities of the Lifelong Learning Programme, including:

- To contribute to the development of quality lifelong learning and to promote high performance, innovation and a European dimension in systems and practices in the field

The openED project will establish an open educational infrastructure bringing together stakeholders in formal and informal education aiming to increase the speed of innovation in education, to ensure continuous provision of up to date and relevant learning materials, or to promote participatory learning including active learning, creative problem solving, discovery, learning by doing, experiential learning, or critical thinking, tinkering and creativity.

- To support the realisation of a European area for lifelong learning

The openED project will test a cost-efficient, geographically unlimited, free and open educational framework, providing formal learner and individuals outside of formal education with an efficient and sustainable lifelong learning infrastructure. It is expected that the project outcomes will be transferable to other subject fields, with long-term spill-over effects to be very likely. Europe can become the initiator of open educational frameworks that spans across countries and disciplines.

- To help promote creativity, competitiveness, employability and the growth of an entrepreneurial spirit

The web 2.0 and in particular Open Source communities are know for their speed of innovation being brought in by creative and entrepreneurial individuals resulting in a benefit for both producer and user – and – where users are often producer at the very same time. This project will build on those principles, therefore also promoting – inter alia - creativity, developer spirit, or ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking, which are all essential entrepreneurial skills.

- To help promote to support the development of innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies and practice for lifelong learning

The openED approach will use technology for the sake of its usefulness, like in open source communities. It links learning resources with learning processes (and related discourse) and forces content to be dynamic. It also lays the base for community based peer support, correction, development and assessment mechanisms. The involvement of renowned pedagogical institutions ensures compliance with overall pedagogical requirements; meanwhile the project’s openness fosters diversity and dynamics.