This article aims to share experience from a Swedish project on the introduction and implementation of
Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education with both national and international perspectives.
The project, OER - resources for learning, was part of the National Library of Sweden Open Access
initiative and aimed at exploring, raising awareness of and disseminating the use of OER and the resulting
pedagogical advantages for teaching and learning. Central to the project?s activities were a series of regional
seminars which all featured a combination of multi-site meetings combined with online participation. This
combination proved highly successful and extended the reach of the project. In total the project reached
around 1000 participants at its events and many more have seen the recorded sessions.
Several unresolved issues beyond the scope of the project became explicit but which are absolutely crucial
challenges. Firstly, the evolution from OER towards open educational practices (OEP) and open
educational cultures (OEC). OEP and OEC imply the establishment of national and international policies
and strategies where the use of OER is officially encouraged, sanctioned and developed. Secondly it became
explicit that the issue of metadata is crucial for finding OER and facilitating their use and reuse for teachers
and learners. Thirdly, the sustainability of OER must be stimulated by ensuring the creation of material
that can easily be adapted and reused by teachers in other countries and contexts.