Guidelines for OER in Higher Education
Stemming from the open educational resources (OER) policy forum last December and wide consultation, UNESCO and COL have developed Guidelines for OER in Higher Education. The guidelines are intended to help key stakeholder groups (governments, higher education institutions, teaching staff, student bodies, quality assurance/accreditation bodies and academic recognition bodies) as they assess the implications of OER for their future policies and actions. Sir John Daniel and UNESCO Director-General Ms. Irina Bokova will launch the publication at the UNESCO General Conference on 1 November.

A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)
Prepared by Neil Butcher for the Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO
Edited by Asha Kanwar (COL) and Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić (UNESCO)
A summary of the key issues as FAQs: to provide readers with a quick and user-friendly introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) and some of the key issues to think about when exploring how to use OER most effectively.
Plus: A comprehensive analysis of these issues.
And: A set of appendices, containing more detail.

Instructional Design Tool
Developing quality course materials requires a specific set of skills. COL’s new Instructional Design Tool is a rigorous, yet simple resource that supports the development of quality courses and learning materials. Through this tool, COL is encouraging institutions to maximise the effectiveness, efficiency and appeal of the learning experience.

The Commonwealth of Learning Review and Improvement Model (COL RIM) for Higher Education Institutions

Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning
Patrick Alan Danaher and Abdurrahman Umar, Editors
The global need for teacher education is greater now than ever before. Half of the world’s countries will have to expand their stock of teachers significantly–some by tens of thousands–if the Dakar Framework for Action goal of Universal Primary Education is to be met by 2015. It is widely accepted that conventional face-to-face teacher training cannot meet this huge demand for new teachers and that open and distance learning (ODL) offers the potential of large-scale educational provision. www.col.org/PSTeacherEd

Quality Assurance Toolkit for Open Schools
Open schooling must mean access to quality education, otherwise its introduction becomes counterproductive. In our view, the quality of the education is as important as the quantity offered. This carefully prepared toolkit is one way of providing support as open schools develop quality assurance systems that will be the foundation of a culture of continual improvement in open schooling. We hope it will benefit open schooling by making institutions’ quality assurance practices as explicit and systematised as possible, with quality assurance policies clearly communicated amongst institutional stakeholders.

From: http://www.col.org/news/Pages/default.aspx