unesco oer way forward @ elearning africa 2008

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1 MAN First Pan-African Forum on OER 28 May 2008 Accra, Ghana A Way Forward for Open Educational Resources Deliberations of an international community Catriona Savage UNESCO

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"A Way Forward for Open Educational Resources: deliberations of an international community." Presentation given by Catriona Savage (UNESCO) at the MERLOT Africa Network's First Pan-African Forum on OER and OA, eLearning Africa, Accra, Ghana on 28 May 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

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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?

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What are the priorities for Africa?

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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

Email

[email protected]

Consult the resources

Wiki

http://oerwiki.iiep-unesco.org