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OER: Tomorrow’s main educational provider?

Higher Education and the Global Agenda:

Alternative Pathways to the Future

IAU 14th General Conference, 2012

Inter American University of Puerto Rico

27 – 30 November 2012

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OER Africa is:

An innovative initiative of Saide,

Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya

Established to play a leading role

in driving the development and

use of OER in Africa.

Funded by the William & Flora

Hewlett Foundation, the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation, and

a variety of projects and

partnerships across Africa.

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• Too few learning resources for learners and

lecturers in African universities, and many of those

available are too expensive to be purchased by

universities or students.

• Limited ICT infrastructure to gain access to up-to-

date information available on the Internet and

participate in inter-institutional, geographically

dispersed collaborative activities.

Setting the Scene

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The OER Concept

• Educational resources that are freely available for

use by educators and learners, without an

accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees.

• OER is not synonymous with online learning or e-

learning;

• Within an African context, it is anticipated that many

of the resources produced – while shareable in a

digital format (both online and via offline formats

such as CD-ROM) – will be printable.

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1. READ Course Materials

5. PRODUCE / PERFORM

APPROPRIATELY

4. PRACTICE new skills

3. ENGAGE in learning

conversations

2. EXPLORE within the discipline

HE - Facilitating Learning

Educators

want

students to:

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E-learning is…

• The use of new multimedia technologies and the

Internet to improve the quality of learning by

facilitating access to resources and services, as

well as remote exchange and collaboration

• e-learning encompasses ‘all computer and Internet-

based activities that support teaching and learning

– both on-campus and at a distance’

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OER has the Potential

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Kamuzu College of Nursing

Policies to Transform HE: eLearning &

OER

• Review (and amendment) of institutional

policies

• Investment in more effective teaching,

learning and research environments, using

resource-based learning

• Embrace open licensing environments

• Bandwidth and access have become

essential

Institutional OCW

OERu

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Communication Skills for

Trade Unions

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Bunda College of Agriculture

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Here at Last!

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The Opportunities…

• Telecommunications capacity is growing rapidly

• Growth in range of devices at reducing cost

• Lower power use and growth in solar power

• And there is an explosion of freely available, high

quality content online that educators and students

can link to…

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With tools that are already available, there

are almost limitless opportunities to

design high quality teaching and learning

environments…

The potential of OER

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Leadership

Nobel Laureates Madiba with Wangari Maathai

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Thank you Catherine Ngugi

Project Director catherine.ngugi@oerafrica.org

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