Opportunities and obstacles for open education - University World News

ab1630's bookmarks 2018-02-25

Summary:

"Given the social, financial and infrastructural challenges facing many African universities, could the provision of free and open educational materials to students and educators improve higher education provision on the continent?

It’s a question that is increasingly being asked, both in Africa and abroad, due to the growing awareness, use and dissemination of open educational resources (OER) – digital materials that can be legally shared without copyright restrictions or cost to the user.

Produced by educators and students, OER form part of a sharing economy that can potentially reduce educational costs and enhance the quality of learning materials through broadening the contributor base and promoting a more participatory approach to knowledge creation.

To understand whether, how and under what conditions OER adoption occurs in the Global South, the Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project embarked on a four-year research programme with over 100 researchers in 18 sub-projects across 21 countries in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

ROER4D recently published the capstone of its research in a freely available, open access edited volume, Adoption and Impact of OER in the Global South, edited by Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams and Patricia B Arinto.

The book includes chapters discussing OER activity in six African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Together, they help to illuminate the opportunities and obstacles for African higher education institutions and educators. What they reveal is a diverse and dynamic legal, cultural, financial and pedagogical landscape that shapes OER adoption and impact in a myriad of ways.

One of the key studies in the book – “OER use in the Global South” by José Dutra de Oliveira Neto, Judith Pete, Daryono and Tess Cartmill – establishes a baseline of OER activity in Africa and across the Global South...."

Link:

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180223045114408

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » ab1630's bookmarks

Tags:

oa.new oa.oer oa.surveys oa.education oa.recommendations oa.access oa.advocacy oa.idrc oa.licensing oa.attitudes oa.hei oa.africa oa.latin_america oa.policies oa.strategies oa.best_practices oa.textbooks oa.development oa.obstacles oa.moocs oa.books oa.libre oa.courseware oa.south

Date tagged:

02/25/2018, 14:36

Date published:

02/25/2018, 09:42