The main challenges explored by OEB 2024 Share key common points: their worldwide nature and without borders, the demand for innovative thought and call for a courageous exploration in the unknown. The exact solution to these challenges is to be debated, but one thing is certain: we need expert pioneers to guide us through this new field towards improving education.
While education systems operate at their local levels, in their national frameworks, the foundation on which the institutions have been created, and the values they maintain are in all corners of the globe. The ability to combat future developments is to establish an increased understanding of what is most effective in providing long -term learning for all. It is only by listening to other voices and conclusions in an accessible shared space, that we are able to navigate and progress together.
The ICDE community Provides a rich and diversified collection of experiences and practical examples of methods to meet some of the latest challenges and developments in education and learning. Knowledge sharing and expertise is not only an additional bonus, but an essential method for staying up to date and helping to avoid overcoming many priorities for managers and institutions today.
Our international association with members of more than 70 countries from all regions of the world, working with additional inclusive access to education with various technologies, has experienced the impact of international collaboration. The International Council for Open Education and Remote Exist for over 85 years, with the support of educational institutions as members since the age of correspondence, where postal letters were the only technology available for asynchronous education.
Our network knows the continuous transformation of education and society, well established leaders of some of the largest universities, to doctoral students who make their debut in the world of the university world. The speed of development can be intimidating. Educational progress and disruptive technologies such as AI, offer our sector a wide range of potential possibilities and barriers. Whether through access, control or influence, each institution, teacher and learning, is now faced with the impact of this rapid evolution machine. New technologies allow the development of personalized and flexible learning. They are necessary to meet this massive need for evolutionary education which is necessary to achieve the objective of sustainable development of the United Nations 4: to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Thanks to our members, we continue to see the power of international collaboration because it disrupts the insularity, the internal echo chamber in which we often find ourselves and helps us to free ourselves from our institutional and departmental silos. It pushes us to learn from others. This shows that learning always occurs in a context. This reminds us of the effort necessary for greater unity and how to undertake a humble perspective can open our mind to the perspectives of others.
The concept of mutual learning, where the teacher and the learner develop together in a shared journey of knowledge and discoveries, can be new or familiar to you. This is an idea that we find in several places in the world, notably in the native Maorie culture of Aotearoa New Zealand, with the term Ako. Our members explain Ako as a term that reflects a deep conviction that knowledge flows in both directions, between the teacher and the learner. Ako is a powerful concept that can contribute to global discourse because it requires significant relationships between people, knowledge and environments. The next 30th ICDE World Conference In Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, November 2025, will serve as the next meeting place to explore inclusive education through this objective thato provides. We are encouraged by the various horizons of delegates and proposals, and curious to see this collaboration in person in a new world arena.
We believe that the future of education depends on international collaboration, where innovation and regulation are going through borders to create inclusive, scalable and sustainable learning opportunities. We invite you to join our OEB24 session to hear real examples of our members on how learning a range of perspectives supported their work and their institutional objectives.
By promoting mutual understanding and respect, we find a familiar terrain in the values we defend. By sharing this knowledge and understanding, we can face the unknown and shape the education policies and practices that really reflect the needs of our global society.
We can’t wait to meet you at Our session on Thursday, November 28 at 4:15 p.m. in Schoeneberg!
Written for OEB Global 2024 by Torunn Gjelsvik And the team at Icde.