Citation: Braßler, M. Students’ Digital Competence Development in the Production of Open Educational Resources in Education for Sustainable Development. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1674. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su16041674 Academic Editor: Davide Settembre-Blundo Received: 6 January 2024 Revised: 10 February 2024 Accepted: 17 February 2024 Published: 18 February 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Students’ Digital Competence Development in the Production of Open Educational Resources in Education for Sustainable Development Mirjam Braßler Institute of Psychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; mirjam.brassler@uni-hamburg.de Abstract: Open education, Open Educational Practices (OEPs), and Open Educational Resources (OERs) have emerged as significant opportunities for enhancing global sustainability information sharing. However, the creation and sharing of OERs, as well as the usage of OEPs in Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD), remain limited. This study explores the implementation of OEPs in HESD, aiming to empower students to co-produce OERs on sustainable development (SD). This study, drawing on the theoretical approach of the principle of constructive alignment, proposes the development of students’ digital competence in OER production. A two-group pretest–posttest analysis of 409 students (Psychology, Economics, Education, Geography) reveals a significant increase in digital competence over time among students who produced OERs on SD, compared to their peers enrolled in courses unrelated to OER content development. We delve into the practical implications of designing OEPs in HESD and strategize to support students in their OER production processes. Keywords: digital competence; higher education for sustainable development; open educational resources (OER); open educational practices (OEP); students as producer 1. Introduction The adoption of open education, Open Educational Practices (OEPs), and Open Edu- cational Resources (OERs) has emerged as an important topic in higher education devel- opment. UNESCO [1] strongly promotes the production and release of OERs to enhance information sharing, media access, education, and participation worldwide. The implemen- tation of OERs and OEPs has the potential to support the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly SDG 4 (quality education) [2]. OERs on sustainable development (SD) provide teachers and learners with free access to learning materials and resources, such as open textbooks, videos, and assignments, on topics such as climate change, migration, and water scarcity. The implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in schools and Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) at universities depends on access to appropriate educational resources on SD. However, the creation, sharing, and usage of OERs remain low [3,4]. The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of OEP in HESD. The study focuses on enabling students to co-produce OERs related to sustainability. In this study, we follow Cronin’s definition of OEPs as “collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners” [3] (p. 18). This study presents an interdisciplinary teaching and learning arrangement that incorporates various elements of OEPs. These include interdisciplinary peer learning, student construction of OERs, educators acting as facilitators, and the use of participatory technologies to enhance open peer reviews. The potential link between OERs produced by students as a result of their learning activities and open practices has been largely overlooked [5]. This approach could have benefits for the OER product itself, a potential shift towards a participatory culture, as well Sustainability 2024, 16, 1674. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16041674 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability