OER Africa Into the Future Advisory Group Meeting Fairview Hotel, Nairobi 21 & 22 nd May, 2009

Problem / Theory of Action  African higher education institutions seriously structurally under-funded for the core function they are expected to discharge.  Therefore, corresponding paucity of institutional and individual capacity to teach in many domains of higher education. timeability  Existing faculty overtaxed in time and ability to teach, reducing time available for ongoing program and materials development. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 2 21/05/2009

Problem / Theory of Action (2)  Many higher education programs on the continent have inadequate funds to run programmes and meet the educational needs of enrolled students as well as cover the costs of faculty time required both to design and run quality learning experiences.  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. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 3 21/05/2009

 Much existing content available to and within African universities based on weak and largely outmoded educational design principles.  Limited ICT infrastructure to gain access to up- to-date information available on the Internet and participate in inter-institutional, geographically dispersed collaborative activities. 4 Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi Problem / Theory of Action (3) 21/05/2009

Key Assumptions OER holds potential: 1.To increase availability of high quality, relevant and need-targeted learning materials; 2.To reduce the cost of accessing educational materials; 3.To allow adaptation of materials and possibly contribute to enabling learners to be active participants in educational processes; 4.To achieve collaborative partnership of people working in communities of practice, preferably across/within institutions; Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 5 21/05/2009

5.To build capacity in African higher education institutions by providing educators with access, at low or no cost, to the tools and content required to produce high quality educational materials. 6.To be successful and sustainable, development of OER cannot be a sideline activity within a university. 7.OER Africa seeks to facilitate the design of OER that can work immediately and add educational value within the current ICT infrastructure constraints of any participating institutions. 6 Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi Key Assumptions (cont’d) 21/05/2009

Why do we exist?  OER Africa  OER Africa believes that OER can positively support development and capacity of higher education systems and institutions across Africa.  OER Africa  OER Africa is concerned that – if the concept and practice of OER evolves predominantly outside and for Africa – we will not be able to liberate its potential. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 7 21/05/2009

Why Open Educational Resources? Concept Concept:  Educational resources for use by educators and learners, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees.  New licensing frameworks remove copying / adaptation restrictions.  OER hold potential for reducing the cost of accessing educational materials. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 8 21/05/2009

Dispelling Some Myths  Content = education  Good content will overcome institutional capacity constraints  OER should be a process of voluntarism  OER will make education cheaper in the short- term  Openness automatically equates with quality  OER is about e-learning Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 9 21/05/2009

ACTIVITY PLAN Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi1021/05/2009

institutional capacity  To work systematically with partners to enhance institutional capacity in higher education to design, develop, and deliver quality higher education programs and materials; collaboratively creating sharing  To advocate the merits of collaboratively creating and sharing intellectual capital in higher education as a mechanism to improve quality and enhance long-term cost-effectiveness; supportive policy frameworks  To help higher education institutions to establish supportive policy frameworks that support openness in the development, adaptation, and use of educational resources, and convert this into sustainable business models; Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 11 21/05/2009 Proposed Contribution (1)

 To establish an online platform that facilitates African collaboration in OER development and sharing, while inter-connecting this platform with the many OER communities emerging globally;  To facilitate the re-development and reinvention of African higher education program curricula and course materials of exceptional quality and direct contextual relevance, producing world class graduates. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 12 21/05/2009 Proposed Contribution (2)

OER Africa Activities (1) Structured Institutional Engagement:  Initial OER Sensitization & Exploration;  Policy Reviews to support development supportive institutional environment;  Materials Audits;  Proof of Concept Pilots; communication / relationship- building  Regular & ongoing communication / relationship- building. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 13 21/05/2009

OER Africa Activities (2)  Expansion of collaborative networks via OER domain-focused approach  Application of similar strategies to other key domain areas, e.g. Agriculture, Engineering, Teacher Education and the Arts & Humanities as the need / opportunity arises. Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi 14 21/05/2009

OER Africa’s Activities (3) Ongoing research into OER concepts and practice in Africa:  Aggregating Research Resources.  Coordinating OER Africa Research activities:  Financially and educationally sustainable models for development, adaptation and use of OER in African higher education institutions;  Online discussions leading to research papers on key topics (e.g. remuneration), and;  Research into possible differences in the uptake and effect of OER in different subject domain areas. 15 Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi21/05/2009

Management and growth of the OER Africa website at  Meta-data federated with global OER repositories, thereby creating greater visibility for African- created OER.  Statistics managed??? 16 Advisory Group Meeting, Nairobi OER Africa’s Activities (4) 21/05/2009

Thank you Catherine Ngugi Neil Butcher Project Director OER Strategist