open education resources: innovation for development

International Perspectives on

Technology-Enhanced Learning

OER: Innovation for

Development? Professor Asha Kanwar & Dr. K. Balasubramanian Commonwealth of Learning

UBC, 13 July, 2013

Plan

Context

OER as an innovation

Are OER addressing some of the challenges?

Strategies to harness OER4D

The COL Approach

CONTEXT

COL Vision

Intergovernmental Organization

1987 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Vancouver, Canada

Created by the Heads of

Commonwealth at CHOGM 1987

© Commonwealth Secretariat

WHAT IS IT FOR?

To help Commonwealth governments

and institutions use various

technologies to improve and expand

learning for development

Access to Learning is the Key to Development

Commonwealth

60% of the population

under 25

1/3 of the world’s poor, 2/3

of them are women (ODI, 2009)

23.3 million primary age

children out of school

460 million illiterate adults

Education for All (The Dakar Goals)

Peace Democracy Equality Good governance

Development

Challenges

Development

Challenges

Universal Primary

Education

Gender Equality

Health

Poverty

Universal Primary

Education

Gender Equality

Health

Poverty

PHOTO: David Walker, PNG

CW Countries off track to

achieve MDGs

MDG 1: poverty reduction: 14 (6 on track for 2020)

MDG 2: universal primary education: 7 (12 on track for

2020)

MDG 3: gender equality: 3 (4 on track for 2020)

Source:

– World bank MDG dataset (Last updated in April 2013):

http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/millennium-

development-indicators

400 million children (12-17) out of secondary school

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Access to Higher Education

Sub-

Saharan

Africa 10%

South Asia

15%

OECD

Average

40-50%

HIGHER EDUCATION

Caribbean

25%

Source: The Economist Dec 1st – 7th, 2012, Higher education, Not what it used to be.

Can technology help?

Distance learning

Online learning

OER

OER AS AN INNOVATION

‘…the lack of content …[is] the

major barrier[s] that

governments need to tackle….’ The world telecommunications/ICT Development report,

ITU, 2010

Open Educational Resources (OER)

OER are teaching, learning and

research materials in any medium

that reside in the public domain or

have been released under an open

license that permits their free use

and in some instances, re-purposing

by others Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007

Why OER?

Reduces costs

Enhance access

Improve quality

Can OER reduce Costs?

20 teacher education programmes in

12 countries

Materials available in 4 languages

In 2010, 320,000 teachers benefited

$ $

$ $

OER and Textbooks

Brazil: for 75% of students at

University of São Paulo, the cost of

acquiring books was higher than the

family’s monthly income.

Research Group for Public Policies for Access to Information,

qtd in Butcher & Hoosen, Business Case for OER, COL:

Vancouver, 2012, p. 17

OERU

University of

Southern Queensland

Otago Polytechnic

Athabasca University

The OER university concept. Adapted from Taylor (2007)

James Taylor

Access: Malawi

Bunda College of Agriculture

102 page Communications Skills textbook

75% OER

Adapted by adding contextually relevant

materials, activities, assignments

Access: translation

CORE COL ID template translated and adapted by

Open University of China

COL materials

in Ukrainian

Can OER contribute to Quality?

611 institutions in India

– KSS Women’s Engineering College, Andhra Pradesh

– Maya Devi Educational Foundation, Uttarakhand

– Bhilai Institute of Technology, Chattisgarh

CAN OER ADDRESS

DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES?

What of Social

Dimensions?

OER cannot be viewed

only from the economic

and financial perspective

The Digital Divide (Commonwealth countries)

Source: Latest data from International Telecommunications Union Database

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Africa Asia Caribbean Europe North America Pacific

Proportion of households with Internet access Proportion of households with Computer access

the network society….

is a major source of

the structuration of

power relationships.

Manuel Castells

Divides

Knowledge

Prosperity

Inclusion Geography

Race

Gender

Economic

Disability

Digital Divide

Social Exclusion of Education in

India: By Caste and Gender

http://elibrary.worldbank.org/docserver/download/4562.pdf?expires=1372886270&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=361D2E69B7AECC03686D

0FE1AFEEB730

OER by itself will not

be able to address

inequality

Justin Reich in https://edutechdebate.org/oer-and-digital-divide/open-educational-resources-expand-educational-

inequalities/

Open Educational Resources Expand

Educational Inequalities

Open Educational Resources Expand

Educational Inequalities

… teachers working in schools serving low

income students simply can't make as much

use of…. the technology ….. because they

lack the planning time, broadband access,

etc. In this model, schools with greater

fiscal and human resources have more

capacity to take advantage of even free and

open resources.

Justin Reich in https://edutechdebate.org/oer-and-digital-divide/open-educational-resources-expand-educational-

inequalities/

Teacher as a stakeholder

Teachers who come to rural

schools, hungry

Zambia: 57%

Sierra Leone: 100%

Ghana: 36%

Lesotho: 59%

India: 12%

Source: Bennell and Akyeampong (2007)

DFID

Being a Woman Teacher in Nepal

Social Exclusion of Women Teachers at

the Entry Level

Factors of Social Exclusion

Non-Local

Dalit woman

Disabled Woman

Unmarried

Source: Laxmi Paudyal, 2012

http://www.socialinclusion.org.np/new/files/Laxmi%20Paudyal_1365492827dWdb.pdf

Education in many countries

Based on centralised systems with limited

academic freedom

Poor governance

Teachers as stakeholders have limited voice

Lack of stakeholder involvement

Minimal dialogues

44% of the countries have low level

of freedom and 33% moderate

freedom in managing non-

governmental schools.

Can Open Educational Resources

thrive in closed educational settings?

STRATEGIES TO HARNESS

OER4D

Strategies should

address both economic

and social issues

Process-oriented approach

“Opening educational resources is

an action that will cause

education to move to a new

place”. (Breck, 2007:3).

and not just as a product

Mobilizing stakeholders

Phases Characteristics

1 Appropriation ability of every stakeholder to have access to the

tools of OER. This would not only include the

availability of infrastructure, but also the social

access to every stakeholder irrespective of class,

gender and ethnicity 2 Localization reflects the meaning, position and physical space

given to OERs vis-à-vis social, political and cultural

values. 3 Incorporation Every stakeholder should have the ability to interact

with OER and use them for strengthening the

educational goals of the community. 4 Conversion The stakeholder is encouraged to look beyond the

community and enter into a relationship with the

global community. In addition, the stakeholder is

also influencing the structure and functions of

OER.

Domestication of OER

Localisation: principles

Involve locals

A community of practice bolsters localisation

Must be done in appropriate formats

Understand local contexts

http://gradworks.umi.com/3450142.pdf

Localization of Open Educational Resources

(OER) in Nepal: Strategies of Himalayan

Knowledge-Workers Tiffany Zenith Ivins

March 2011

Emphasis on Governance

People have a say in the development

of these ideas and meanings because

they are able to participate in their

creation, growth, and spread.

Participatory approach

Decentralised organisational structures

Learner centricity

Re-defining OER

The phenomenon of OER/OLR is an

empowerment process, facilitated by

technology in which various types of

stakeholders are able to interact,

collaborate, create and use materials and

pedagogic practices, that are freely

available, for enhancing access, reducing

costs and improving the quality of education

and learning at all levels.

From ‘divide’ to ‘dividend’

emphasis on people, rather than on

technologies

knowledge as a social product emerging as an

interface of machine, individual, society

learning as a process of knowledge creation

THE COL APPROACH

Paris Declaration on OER

Advocacy

Capacity

Policy

Research

Ph

oto

: C

C-B

Y D

avid

e S

tort

i

The 2012 Paris OER

Declaration drafting group at

UNESCO Headquarters,

Paris, France

OER : open schooling

Schools Teachers Consultants Ministries

of Education

Frances Ferreira

Teacher Education

Global Demand for Teachers: 1.7 million strengthening teacher education through the use of

technology and distance learning. 350,000 teachers and teacher educators trained in

24 countries. reaching teachers in marginalised groups including

nomadic communities

Dr. Abdurrahman Umar

Education for All (The Dakar Goals)

The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth

Disaster management

Sustainable agriculture

Business &

Entrepreneurship

John Lesperance

Technical & Vocational

Skills Development

Impact – 150% increase in income

Alison Mead

Richardson

TVET Institutions

TVET Teachers

TVET Students

Outcomes

Dr. K. Balasubramanian

Ian Pringle

The COL Approach

Encourages participation and wider

stakeholder engagement

Uses a range of appropriate technologies

Takes a holistic approach

How can technology-enhanced

learning

reach the digitally deprived and socially

excluded?

transform closed educational systems?

accelerate progress towards achieving

development goals such as MDGs and EFAs?

THANK YOU www.col.org