OER from one of the virtual thematic universities in France
The 8 virtual thematic universities in France, (Universités Numériques Thématiques, UNT), supported by the French government, have built up an extensive collection of Open Educational Resources (OER). Through more than 10 years, about 33,000 quality assured open licensed educational resources, have been developed and are now made available by an open search engine.
One the thematic universities, UVED, promotes access to knowledge, education and training of all actors involved in environment and sustainable development.
UVED focuses on identifying its training needs and producing new digital pedagogical contents scientifically validated for all disciplinary fields. UVED's purpose is to produce freely available additional courses for students and to provide teachers and trainers with e-contents.
In order to better address the continuous training in public and to bring a better answer to the expectations and needs of all users, UVED has produced and coordinated MOOCs on environment and sustainable development. These resources have been produced with the support of recognized experts in the field with the following purpose:
- Fill societal needs for continuous training and life-long learning
- Re-enforce and democratize knowledge and skills produced by the most prestigious higher education institutions (HEI)
- Educate, raise awareness and inform a broad public on the key challenges of the 21st century
- Give free access to knowledge for as many individuals as possible
- Bring together experts from various backgrounds and institutions to favour the crossing of the disciplines
- Offer a great visibility to research institutions and to works carried out by scientific teams
Here are a few examples of the available resources produced in 2014-2015:
MOOC "Environment and sustainable development"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeU78T5dtVW6iDrOaJhfaAa2OTbiIA-F-
MOOC "Causes and challenges of climate change"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeU78T5dtVW6eRyr6xRwmfTWqBSS86NZN
MOOC "Biodiversity"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeU78T5dtVW5r1EOJ2l3GWhnE-FphVkUD