A Flexible Educational Model to Support University in Times of Crisis: The Open Spaces Educational Framework (OSEF)

Abstract

Morocco is currently at a sweet spot for generating change and new activity models. Specially now, in VUCA environments (characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), the academic community can pay a key role to the world in reshaping Higher Education with a flexible framework that accounts for learning in contexts of crisis. The country, as well as the whole African continent, demands high-quality online university instruction to prepare its extensive young population for the new professions of the twenty-first century, as a means for a sustainable society, including integration of formal, non-formal and informal learning, as well as online and blended settings, with a flexible approach, all suitable for education in crisis contexts. This chapter presents a socio-constructivist model, supported by active and inclusive education where students become the main actors in their own instruction. It shows the basics on the model and how it is useful for online and blended settings that combine formal and informal contexts, like the one out of the pandemic The Open Spaces Educational Framework (OSEF) is a case study implemented in Morocco and consists of active policies interwoven with business to guarantee the formation of creative leaders with a sustainable vision, practical implementation, and social responsibility.