Learning Revolution and Higher Education Transformation
MOOC and online education are triggering a profound learning revolution, and drastically transforming the ideas, methods, forms and models of higher education.
Beijing Declaration on MOOC Development
About the Conference
The Global MOOC and Online Education Conference follows up on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration of MOOC Development (2020), which recommended UN organizations, international and regional organizations, governments, universities and online education institutions around the world to deepen international exchanges and cooperation, accelerate the building up of infrastructure for communication, promote the openness and sharing of MOOC and online education resources, and jointly promote the setting of international technical and curriculum standards for MOOC and online education, joining hands to build, develop and promote MOOC and online education to serve society better.
Review the Past Conference
Education 2030, UN SDG 4
Education is a key piece of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite the scope of these global commitments and the expected achievements, there is still an urgent need to look beyond this fast-approaching horizon. While the Education 2030 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action (FFA) and UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (UN SDG 4) – ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, lays out a roadmap for the transformation of education systems and affirms a central commitment to inclusion and equity, we must still ask what education might yet become – and what education might yet enable us to become.
Recognizing that knowledge and learning are humanity’s greatest renewable resources for responding to challenges and inventing alternatives, UNESCO launched a Futures of Education Initiative in late 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Initiative uses the horizon of 2050 and beyond. It aims to rethink, anticipate, and shape the role of education, learning, and knowledge in light of the tremendous challenges and opportunities of both nearer and more distant futures.
Such re-visioning knowledge, education, and learning are more relevant than ever. Recent years have seen phenomena such as accelerated technology transformations, the development of accreditation systems, increased access, and shifts in how higher education is funded. Challenges and opportunities external to higher education systems include demographic shifts, political change, economic crisis, war and conflict, and, as we have seen recently, global pandemics.
Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance (GMA)
Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance (GMA) is a dynamic and diverse group of 17 world-leading universities and three online education platforms from across 14 countries, six continents and 10 languages.
The commission of GMA includes Joint Teaching, Capacity Building, Knowledge Sharing, and Public Advocacy.
GMA serves as a mechanism for exchange and cooperation, providing leadership of global higher education efforts to address digital education challenges and to implement practical policies in local communities and around the world.
GMA capitalizes on digital technology to revitalize educational ideas, reform educational models, and actively contribute to transforming higher education in the digital era while also enhancing educational equity and quality.
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE)
In line with the new Education 2030 Agenda, UNESCO IITE has developed its strategic priority areas to meet new demands and tasks ahead. The mission of IITE in the new era is promoting the innovative use of ICT and serving as facilitator and enabler for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) through ICT-enabled solutions and best practices.
In promoting digital pedagogy, UNESCO IITE works with policy-makers, civil society and various other stakeholders, drawing on its own research and existing research evidence, focusing on how pedagogical and technological innovations can enhance learning. IITE exerts efforts to facilitate the transfer of innovation research into educational practice and support effective learning through ICT-enabled pedagogy. The Institute promotes innovative approaches, methodology, tools and techniques of integrating ICT and pedagogy into different levels and sectors of education, in particular higher education.