The OportUnidad project brings Open Educational Resources (OER) to Latin American universities through collaboration between European and Latin American higher education institutions. As part of this project, the Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica (UNED) helped develop an open online course called PREA on the principles of open education and teaching innovation. The 80-hour course was successful with over 80 participants from 11 countries and benefited 47 institutions. Based on feedback, future iterations of the course could improve the platform interface, include more peer interaction, and tailor materials to local contexts. The OportUnidad project resources like case studies, roadmaps, and webinars aim to advance open education practices between Europe and Latin America

1. A N O P T I O N T O I N T E G R A T E T H E
P R I N C I P L E S O F O P E N E D U C A T I O N
I N L A T I N A M E R I C A N U N I V E R S I T I E S
O P O R T U N I D A D P R O J E C T :
D I A N A H E R N Á N D E Z
U N I V E R S I D A D E S T A T A L A D I S T A N C I A ( U N E D )
C O S T A R I C A

2. C O S T A R I C A
OCW UNED courses images

3. O P O R T U N I D A D P R O J E C T

4. • The OportUnidad project is co-funded by the European
Commission with the participation of 12 universities (4
in Europe and 8 in Latin America).
• Objective: To bring the use of Open Education
Resources (OER) closer to the educational practices in
Latin American universities by developing a common
higher education area between these two major
sectors.
(Inamorato, Cobo, and Ferreira, 2012, p. 11).

5. U N E D , C O S T A R I C A

6. U N E D T O
O P O R T U N I D A D
• Experience in projects from
the European Commission.
• 36-year experience in
distance learning.
• With a project OCW for 6
years.

7. R E S O U R C E S

8. O P O R T U N I D A D R E S O U R C E S
Some of the elements available are:
• Compendium of European and Latin American case
studies and interviews on open educational resources
and practices
• Regional Agenda
• Road Map
• The course PREA

9. C O M P E N D I U M

10. R E G I O N A L A G E N D A

11. R O A D M A P

12. W E B I N A R S

13. C O U R S E P R E A

14. C O U R S E P R E A
• It consists of 80 working hours.
• All the materials are available in Spanish and
Portuguese.
• Ongoing assessment of evidence-based education.
• All course materials will be made available to the global
community through a license granted by Creative
Commons.

15. C O U R S E P R E A
• The course consists of 5 activities and some of them
promote collaboration and participation:
1. Approach to OER and OEP
2. Analysis of the teaching practice
3. Adoption of OER
4. Openness and collaboration
5. Conclusion and projection

16. G R A P H 1 . E N R O L L M E N T O F T H E F I R S T E D I T I O N O F T H E
P R E A C O U R S E , B Y N U M B E R O F P A R T I C I P A N T S E N R O L L E D
P E R C O U N T R Y .
S O U R C E : H E R N Á N D E Z , S A N D O V A L , S A N D O V A L A N D V A L V E R D E
( 2 0 1 4 )
22
11
11
8
7
6
6
4
3
3
3
Mexico Costa Rica
Ecuador Brazil
Uruguay Colombia
Peru Argentina
Bolivia El Salvador
Venezuela
Total: 84 participants

17. G R A P H 2 . T O T A L B E N E F I T E D
I N S T I T U T I O N S , D I S T R I B U T E D B Y
C O U N T R Y .
S O U R C E : H E R N Á N D E Z E T A L . ( 2 0 1 4 )
18
73
3
3
3
3
3
2
1 1
Mexico
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Uruguay
Venezuela
El Salvador
Peru
Total: 47 institutions

18. G R A P H 3 . A P P R O A C H E S C O N S I D E R E D
B Y P A R T I C I P A N T S I N T H E I R R O A D
M A P S .
S O U R C E : H E R N Á N D E Z E T A L . ( 2 0 1 4 )
0
13
25
38
50
63
Pedagogical Technological Organizational Collaborative Business
Frequencies
Approaches - Regional Agenda

19. G R A P H 4 . P E R S E V E R I N G
P A R T I C I P A N T S I N E A C H A C T I V I T Y , B Y
H O S T C O U N T R Y .
S O U R C E : H E R N Á N D E Z E T A L . ( 2 0 1 4 )
0
5
10
15
20
25
Costa
Rica
Mexico Bolivia Brazil Uruguay Ecuador Colombia Peru
ActiveParticipants
Host Country
Initial
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5

20. P L A T F O R M
Moderators and participants agreed that it was:
• Difficult to use.
• Lack of stability.
• Slow.
• Interaction spaces were “too many clicks away.”

21. I N T E R N A T I O N A L M O D E R A T I O N
Moderators and participants agreed that it was:
• Excellent
• Timely
• Educational
• Efficient

22. A S S E S S M E N T S
Moderators and participants said:
• They were well-developed but difficult to use.
• Appropriate and useful.
• They were demanding.

23. M E T H O D O L O G Y
• They liked the proposal; some made suggestions for
improvement.
• It fit the course and their needs.
• Considering other assessment methods.

24. C O U R S E L E N G T H
• Almost everybody agreed that it was good, some said
that it could be extended for 4 more weeks but some
said it has to be shortened.

26. I M P R O V E M E N T I S A L W A Y S
P O S S I B L E
• Encourage participants to finish the course through some sort
of an additional commitment to participate in the course.
• Both participants and moderators suggested a balance
between group and individual activities, they want more
interaction among peers.
• More feedback for different activities, particularly, journals and
assessment rubrics.
• Improve the guides, materials should use the vocabulary used
in the country where the course will be taught.

27. R E F E R E N C E S
• Hernández, D., Sandoval, A., Sandoval, A. and Valverde, J.
(2014). Informe de evaluación del curso Principios y estrategias de
educación abierta para la innovación docente (PREA). San José:
This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of
the European Union.
• Inamorato, A., Cobo, C. and Ferreira, G. (2012). Compendium of
European and Latin American case studies and interviews on open
educational resources and practices. Retrieved from
http://www.oportunidadproject.eu/resources/compendium
• OportUnidad. (2013). Curso PREA. Taken from:
http://www.oportunidadproject.eu/resources/course-prea

28. C R E D I T A N D G R A T I T U D E
UNED
Mario Badilla - Production and graphic design
OportUnidad Project
OpenCourseWare Consortium

29. C O N T A C T
DIANA HERNÁNDEZ
VICERRECTORÍA DE INVESTIGACIÓN
UNED
COSTA RICA
Correos: dinances38@gmail.com -
dhernandez@uned.ac.cr
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