The Open Education Global conference took place last week in the beautiful city of Cape Town. The European Data Science Academy was represented by Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, UK). Alexander presented a paper describing the project’s approach in using open courseware in order to bridge the Data Science skills gap across Europe. The European Data Science Academy is looking to bridge the data science skills gap by developing multimodal open courseware tailored to the real needs of data practitioners. The EDSA courseware is implemented as a combination of living learning materials and activities (eBook, online courses, webinars, face-to-face training), produced via a rigorous process and validated by the data science community through continuous feedback.

The Open Education Global Conference is a major annual event for the international Open Education community. This year’s Open Education Global conference marks the 10-year anniversary of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. 2017 also marks several important milestones in Open Education, including the 15-year anniversary of the term Open Educational Resources (OER) and the 5 year anniversary of the Paris OER Declaration. The Open Education Global conference has offered the opportunity to celebrate and reflect on these and other achievements, reconnect with colleagues and friends, and learn about new ideas and initiatives.