[Open-education] World Education Forum and Open Education / OER

Fri May 22 07:51:57 UTC 2015

Dear Bjoern

Thanks for raising the issue of OER in developing countries. The Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D)(http://roer4d.org/) project is endeavouring to find out exactly how OER is being adopted or not, in a range of Global South countries in three regions, South America, Sub-Sarahan Africa and Asia. ROER4D comprises 18 sub-projects around seven clusters engaging 86 researchers and associates across sixteen time zones investigating the adoption and impact of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in 26 countries.

We are still in progress, so no data just yet, but you might want to follow our progress on our website or be in contact directly. For a quick overview the current ROER4D Slideshare deck (http://www.slideshare.net/ROER4D) should be a good start.

But to answer your direct question: “Given the global aspirations for Open Education, OER, and CC, is this ok? Should we do more? Is enough being done for primary/secondary education in developing countries regarding ‘open’?”, the answer is no, we need to understand a lot more about what people actually need as OER from the ‘bottom-up’ in terms of content and format. You will be pleased to know that one of the ROER4D Sub-Projects is specifically investigating the impact of the TESSA project under Freda Wolfonden’s leadership.

Regards
Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams
Principal Investigator of ROER4D

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [Open-education] World Education Forum and Open Education / OER
Date:   Wed, 20 May 2015 19:53:21 +0200
From:   Bjoern Hassler <bjohas at gmail.com><mailto:bjohas at gmail.com>
To:     open-education at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-education at lists.okfn.org> <open-education at lists.okfn.org><mailto:open-education at lists.okfn.org>

Hi all,

Is there anything OER or Open Education related going on at the World Education Forum "Equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning"? It's possible that I've missed it... please tell me if I have!

Also, the last two Global Monitoring Reports only mention OER in passing, with no mention of Open Ed. / Creative Commons or e.g. TESSA / TESS-India. Here's how OER is mentioned:

"Of greater significance is identifying other settings and learning frameworks â€“ for example, distance and open education, non-formal education, on-the job training and adult education â€“ that may significantly augment skill acquisition among adults over the life course." (2015 report)

"The use of ICT for distance education also requires investment in infrastructure, hardware and materials. South Africa is an example of a country that is addressing this need through innovation in Open Education Resources (South African Institute for Distance Education, 2010), which can dramatically reduce costs for participating institutions and learners." (2013/14 report)

(My bold. Of course, even those brief mentions, if looked at in detail, are to some extent problematic.)

Given the global aspirations for Open Education, OER, and CC, is this ok? Should we do more? Is enough being done for primary/secondary education in developing countries regarding "open"?

Looking at the tweets for the World Education Forum, there is of course a big focus on equity, which is of course important, as that message hasn't been fully heard yet by everybody. But we know from education that the "what" is often easily agreed - the how is more complex. Of course OER alone won't solve any problems, but I think we're probably agreed that OER should be part of an equitable solution.Â

Any thoughts?
Bjoern

(For those who prefer twitter for discussion:Â
https://twitter.com/bjoernhassler/status/601073454524321792 )

________________________________
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

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