Educators involved in the implementation of the universities’ third mission shared their practices and expertise within the webinar “Community-Based Learning in Universities: Current State and Trends in the Use of Digital Technologies”. The event was held by UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education and Shanghai Open University on April 16, 2025, in the framework of the joint UNESCO IITE–SOU project on “Promoting ICT Capacity Building and Open Education in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies”.
The webinar aimed to discuss current practices for community-based learning in universities and the integration of digital technologies into the learning programme and activity that impact societies. During the meeting, the analytical report “Community-Based Learning in Higher Education” developed on the initiative of UNESCO IITE and Shanghai Open Universities was presented.
The webinar participants were welcomed by Mr. Tao Zhan, Director of UNESCO IITE, and Mr. Jun Xiao, Dean of the College of Science and Technology at Shanghai Open University. Mr. Neil Butcher, Director and founder of ‘Neil Butcher & Associates’, outlined key concepts related to community-based learning (CBL) and challenges related to digital technology use in CBL. His speech was supported by the presentation “Community-based learning and the use of digital technologies: insights from a research” of Ms. Alisson Zimmermann, Researcher at ‘Neil Butcher & Associates’.
A great interest of all webinar participants was paid to practical cases of CBL-related activities presented by Ms. Briony Chisholm (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Mr. Yeon Guydeuk (CHRIST University, India), Mr. Tim Coughlan (The Open University, UK), Mr. Arthur Thomas (Syracuse University, USA) and Ms. Ayri De Luna and Ms. Lynne Gribble from University of New South Wales (Australia). The webinar was moderated by Ms. Tatiana Murovana, UNESCO IITE programme specialist.
Video recording of the webinar
Analytical Report “Community-Based Learning in Higher Education”