OE Global in Banff, Canada

The international conference on Open Educational Resources took place in Banff, Ontario during April 2015.

COCo presented a paper there, titled « Teacher’s time is valuable », based on our findings during the course of the project.

The conference discussed a number of great projects and ideas. Just to mention some:

  • An entire session was devoted to business models: actual companies were present and explained how they were able to develop win-win situations consistent with the values of open education;
  • Dirk van Damme, from the OECD, delivered an interesting message: OER is an important tool towards introducing innovation and teaching innovation in schools;
  • The GO-GN network, run by Fred Mulder, showed how PhD students from many fields and countries could interact and contribute to better understanding and producing OER;
  • A French speaking meal took place attempting to evaluate the situation of Ressources Educatives Libres (REL). COCo’s position was possibly not as enthusiastic as that of other participants.

Participants and COCo will certainly be looking forward to the next edition, which will take place in Poland.


Lake Louise by Edwin van Buuringen, via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)


Moraine Lake-Banff NP, by Tobias Alt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY SA 4.0)


Golden-mantled ground squirrel Sulphur Mountain Banff, by Tony Hisgett, via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)


Sunshine Village, by Sergei Scurfield, via Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)