Universite Populaire Ouverte/Open Popular University is created on the basis of the following concepts: informal education, alternative education, open educational resources, open courseware, open access, universite populaire, elearning, autodidactism and social learning. Education is given in two settings: formal and informal. In formal settings learning takes place in a physical building called school. However this situation doesn't always happen. The social environments such as the family, the community, the media are also sources of education called informal education. Subjects taught in the formal sector have been taught informally in homeschool, tutoring, learning centre settings. Learning can also take place by oneself (self-learning) or in groups outside of schools. The advent of the world wide web makes the informal learning easier. Different informations can be accessed through the internet. Many educational institutions at different levels started offering online courses. In our days many of the leading institutions put their courses accessible freely on the web. Different media such as books, videos, etc can be accessed freely through the internet. New concepts such as Open Educational Resourses(OER), Open Courseware are very popular and many people use these resources to learn informally for their personal enrichment or to satisfy academic requirements. Some people use open educational resources to earn degrees assessed by social learning. Some universities are considering to give credits for learning acquired informally.
Open Courseware
An Open Courseware (OCW) is a free and open digital publication and high quality university-level educational material. These matreials are organized as courses and often include course planning materials tools as well as thematic content
Open Courseware is free and openly licensed, accessible to anyone, anytime via the internet.
Open Access
The term "open access" implies a lack of: formal entry requirements, prerequisite credentials and an entrance examination
Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are offered freely and are openly available online for educators and learners , without an accompanying need to pay royalties or license fees
Popular University or Universite populaire.
A popular university or universite populaire is a popular education organism whose objective is the transmission of theoretical and/or practical knowledge for all.. In France most of the universite populaire have an associative status.
E-learning
E-learning encompasses all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. It refers to out-of-classroom and in-classroom learning via technology.
Mission
Learning is a natural need of humans. It is a process that helps to survival. Unfortunately for the vast majority of people the acquisition of learning materials is a luxury and the access to higher education is very limited due to high educational costs. Thousands of educational materials in the form of courses, books, articles, journals,videos, podcasts, etc, are freely available through the internet thanks to many universities and Open Educational Resources Organization (OER} throughout the world. There is an existing need of developing, organizing, translating these materials and creating new ones. The use of these materials especially the courses is multiple. Professors and instructors can use them to develop the courses they teach. Students studying in brick and mortar and online universities can use them to review or supplement their own materials. Former graduate students and professionals can use these materials for review. Self-learners can use them for their own benefit. A whole degree can be reached through the use of these materials and social learning credentials. With an OER university in the horizon materials learned independently can be assessed and a degree can be achieved without the hassles of commuting and spending thousands of dollars with no firm hope of obtaining a job after graduation.. The mission of the Open Popular University/Universite Populaire is to help thousands of people throughout the world especially those who can't afford to pay the high costs of a higher education. The university will reserve a place for Haitian students whose access to educational materials is very limited. The courses are organized according to the curriculum of renowned universities and students can study using the materials by themselves or in study groups. Students can also study by themselves using the materials and the groups on Open Study Group.
