unesco oer way forward @ elearning africa 2008
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MAN First Pan-African Forum on OER28 May 2008Accra, Ghana
A Way Forward for Open Educational Resources
Deliberations of an international community
Catriona SavageUNESCO
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Structure of the session
OER: an overview and some examples UNESCO: its mission and action on OER An international community: the UNESCO IIEP initiative The community speaks: the Way Forward Conclusion: next steps
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OER: a definition
Web-based materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research
(UNESCO, 2002)
Only open if they are released under an open licence Includes any tool, material or technique used to support
access to knowledge
4
OER: milestones in the movement
1998: “open content” and the Open Publication License 2001: founding of Creative Commons 2001: MIT announces OpenCourseWare
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The Cape Town Declaration
“…a statement of principle, a statement of strategy and a statement of commitment … meant to spark dialogue, to inspire action and to help the open education movement grow.”
(Cape Town Open Education Declaration, 2008)
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What approaches have providers taken to making content freely and openly
available?
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MIT OpenCourseWare Institutional, faculty response to
challenge of online education 2002: launched 50-course pilot 2008: almost all course materials
available for over 2,000 subjects An adventure! (Charles Vest)
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Rice University Connexions Individual response to limitations of
traditional textbooks The vision: “textbooks adapted to many
learning styles and translated into myriad languages… textbooks that are continually updated and corrected by a legion of contributors” (Rich Baraniuk)
The result: an environment for developing, sharing and publishing academic content on the web
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University of the Western CapeFree Courseware Project Promoting use of OER by UWC students
and staff Creating and publishing free and open
educational resources Raising awareness about free and open
access to knowledge in wider community
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University of Cape Town
OpeningScholarship – research into potential impact of OER and Open Access
Health OER – partnership with University of Michigan and University of Ghana to create OER for medicine and health sciences
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African Virtual UniversityOER Architecture Aims to promote collaborative
partnerships among African institutions for the four elements of the OER ‘evolutionary process’:– Creation– Organization– Dissemination– Utilization
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What action is UNESCO taking?
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UNESCO: five strategic objectives
Capacity builder in Member States Laboratory of ideas Catalyst for international cooperation Clearinghouse Standard setter
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OER: the need for awareness raising
Potential of OER to contribute to:– Education for All– Building knowledge societies – especially
‘knowledge-sharing societies’
But… No awareness of availability resources not utilized
and potential of OER not realized
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A donor vision: the Hewlett change strategy Aim: to equalize access to knowledge through:
– Sponsoring high quality content– Understanding and stimulating use– Removing barriers
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Aims of the IIEP OER initiative
International dialogue and information exchange Linking people who might not otherwise meet Creating an international OER community
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Steps in the creation of a community
Forum 1: an introduction to OER Short discussions on key topics
– OER research agenda– A ‘Do-It-Yourself/Do-It-Together’ resource for
developing capacity– FOSS for OER
Forum 2: OECD study on OER
Resources made available on website and wiki
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After two years of intense reflection and discussion, what did the community have to say about the priorities for advancing the OER movement?
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What are the characteristics of the community?
600+ members 98 countries 67 developing countries
North America22%
Sub-Saharan Africa16%
Latin America6%
East Asia5%
The Pacific4%
Central and Eastern Europe
3%
Central Asia0.5%
Caribbean1%
Arab States3%
South and West Asia
9%
Western Europe
30%
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Who are the African community members?
South Africa (20 members)
Nigeria (19 members)
Kenya (14 members)
Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia (1 member each)
Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe (2 members each)
Sudan, Uganda (3 members each)
Gambia (4 members)
Egypt, Mauritius, Tanzania (5 members each)
27 countries 100+ members 60% from Southern and
Eastern Africa Over 50% from 3
countries – South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya
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Community members…organizations represented
Over 50% from higher education institutions
Over 20% from international organizations and NGOs
Africa mirrors overall community breakdown
University36%
Distance-learning university institution
11%International organization
10%
National NGO5%
Self-employed4%
Other18%
Research institution
6%
National government
4%
International NGO6%
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Community members…positions held
Almost 40% hold high-level positions
Almost 20% are teaching professionals
In Africa teachers largest group, then decision-makers
Researcher12%
Consultant5%
Other9%
Director or chief executive
20%
Senior official or manager17%
ICT professional
7%
Project or programme officer
12%
Teaching professional
18%
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What are the issues?
Advancing the movement Awareness raising Communities and networking Research
Enabling creation and re-use Policies Standards Technology tools Quality assurance Capacity development
Enabling learning with OER Learning support services Assessment of learning
Removing barriers to OER Accessibility Copyright and licensing Financing Sustainability
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What are the priorities?
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Awar
enes
s rais
ing
Comm
unities
Capactiy
dev
elopm
ent
Sustai
nabili
ty
Quality
ass
uran
ce
Copyright
Learn
ing s
upport se
rvic
es
Finan
cing
Access
ibili
ty
Resear
ch
Standar
ds
Technolo
gy to
ols
Policie
s
Assess
men
t of l
earn
ing
Other
Tot
al v
otes
Issues in rank order
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What are the priorities for Africa?
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Awar
enes
s ra
isin
g
Capacity
dev
elopm
ent
Comm
unities
Resear
ch
Policie
s
Finan
cing
Access
ibili
ty
Learn
ing s
upport se
rvic
es
Technolo
gy to
ols
Sustai
nabili
ty
Qual
ity a
ssura
nce
Standar
ds
Oth
er
Copyrig
ht
Assess
men
t of l
earnin
g
Issues in rank order
Tot
al v
otes
32
Which stakeholders should take action? Higher education institutions International organizations National government Academics
A key stakeholder role…
…be an OER champion!
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The Way Forward: 6 priorities
Advancing the movement Awareness raising at all levels Community building and network development
Enabling creation and re-use Developing capacity through a DIY/DIT resource Quality assurance – develop guidelines
Removing barriers Sustainability models to ensure viability of initiatives Copyright and licensing
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What is the way forward for UNESCO?
Create network of nodes for local awareness raising and development
Continue community as international forum for discussion
Focus on awareness raising through international reach of UNESCO and the community itself
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Join the community
c.savage@unesco.org
Consult the resources
Wiki
http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org
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