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LangOER is a 3-year network (January 2014- December 2016) supported by action KA2 Languages of the Lifelong Learning Programme, European Commission.

The main questions it adresses are: How can less used languages, including Regional and Minority languages, benefit from Open Educational Practices (OEP)? How can Open Educational Resources (OER) be shaped to foster linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe? What policies are favourable to the uptake of quality OER in less used language communities?

Research theme
Multilingualism and Language learning

Project leader
Fryske Akademy/Mercator Research Centre

Staff at Mercator
Marit Bijlsma, Cor van der Meer

Duration
January 2014- December 2016

Funding
Life Long Learning programme of the European Commission

Collaboration with 
Fryske Akademy/Mercator Research Centre, The Netherlands; Web2learn, Greece (Project management); European Schoolnet, Belgium; University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Jan Dlugosz University, Poland; Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania; International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), Norway; European Foundation for Quality in E-learning, Belgium; Rezekne Higher Education Institution, Latvia.Further, several associated partners are linked to the project.

Products

The project has led to two final products:

Background

Open education, as a societal demand that overcomes barriers to learning and development of personal and professional skills, is a reality, together with similar-minded initiatives such as open access to knowledge and more recently MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) aimed at large-scale participation via the web regardless of the learner’s location, status, age or origin.

The UNESCO Paris Declaration adopted by the first UNESCO OER World Congress in June 2012 and the European Union initiative on “Opening Up Education” invite governments and educational institutions to develop policies for OER and OEP. The initiatives for MOOCs became the most talked-about educational innovation of 2012.

On the other hand, less used languages very unrepresented in the OER landscape.Less used languages therefore face the risk of linguistic/cultural dependence in the fast evolving OER/OEP landscape currently dominated by English. The LangOER project will bring together the worlds of Open Education and less used languages.

Research

The following research topics are covered in the project: 

  • In-depth investigation of OER in 17 less widely used languages (LWUL)
  • International challenges that LWUL face
  • Teacher training and enhancement of teaching practice with OER
  • Capacity building for educators of regional and minority languages (RML)
  • Language learning challenges
  • Mainstream good practice at pan-European policy making level

Contactpersons for questions or more information:
Mr. Cor van der Meer (project coordinator and Head of the Mercator research Centre) 
Ms. Marit Bijlsma (researcher)

Or find more information / follow LangOER on: