open education resources: innovation for development
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Open Education Resources: Innovation for Development International Perspectives on Technology-Enhanced Learning University of British Columbia Faculty of Education Vancouver, Canada 13 July 2013 Presented by Dr. K. Balasubramanian Jointly authored by Professor Asha Kanwar and Dr. K. Balasubramanian Commonwealth of LearningTRANSCRIPT
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