Medical students are key stakeholders of Open Education as Open Educational Resources can bridge the existing gaps in medical education and they are future researchers and authors who can contribute to the movement. The International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA), representing 1.3 million medical students worldwide, is a firm proponent of the Open Education movement. IFMSA has solidified stances on Open Education in its Policy Documents on ‘Open Science' (LINK), and has committed to promoting the movement through its Global Priorities, activities, programs, and initiatives.
IFMSA has aimed to increase awareness of Open Science among medical students through the annual Open Access Week campaign and by promoting National Member Organisations' activities on Open Science. IFMSA has further created educational activity toolkits and introduced Open Educational Resources that can be useful to medical students. Along with these capacity-building efforts, IFMSA has strengthened the presence of students in events discussing Open, such as OpenCon and Open Education Conference 2021.
This session will feature a panel discussion introducing the role that student organizations play in youth engagement in Open Science and Open Education. It will feature why involving students in the Open movement is important, and local, national, and international efforts of students to advocate Open Education, the existing barriers that students face during their studies and research.
The panel will consist of student organization representatives and a practitioner whose path in advocating open started during their time in a student organization. The student organization representatives will introduce the role that student organizations play in youth engagement on Open Science and Open Education, sharing some methods and examples like campaigns. They will introduce why involving students in the Open movement is important, and how they are spreading the idea through local, national and international efforts. The practitioner can share their story of how being introduced to the Open Movement at an early stage in their career has impacted their paths and how to make the Open movement sustainable. Along with discussing the pre-prepared questions, the panels will receive questions from the participants and provide specific advice to the students and mentors.
By attending this session, attendees will be able to:- Participants understand the importance and the impact of involving and engaging students in advocating the Open
- Participants learn different methods for youth engagement in Open Science
- Participants understand student-led strategies to advocate Open Science and can implement them back in their local and national communities
- Participants have ideas on sustainable ways to spread the Open movement
