Philipp Schmidt

Philipp Schmidt is Manager of the Free Courseware Project at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and Executive Director of the Peer 2 Peer University. He has worked on open education projects in a variety of functions, is a co-author of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration and editor of the UNESCO OER Handbook with UNESCO (in collaboration with WikiEducator, and COSL/Utah State University). His main interest is to develop new learning and certification opportunities for more people using open educational resources and opencourseware.

At UWC, has been working hands-on with students and lecturers to develop and implement open education projects, strategies, and policies. His team has been studying the effects of “open” practices on quality of teaching and learning; supporting students to publish lecture notes and audio recordings; and promoting the ideas of “opening up” to the University Management.