Researching Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogical Practices: The ROER4D Project

Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams
University of Cape Town
MEd EdTech Seminar
26 Feb 2016
Researching Open Educational Resources and Open
Pedagogical Practices: The ROER4D Project

Key challenges facing education in world-wide

Key challenges facing education in South Africa
#Feesmustfall protests in
Nov 2015 & Feb 2016 in
South Africa
• Cost
• Relevance

Key challenges facing education in Africa
Unemployed youth in
Nigeria
*
http://africajournalismtheworld.com/2014/06/19/nigeria-unemployed-youths-feel-government-programmes-favour-those-with-political-links/

Rising numbers of students in
the education sector and limited
places in HE
Education institutions under
political & financial pressure
Expensive, limited in number,
often outdated textbooks are
not entirely relevant to the
context
Employability of graduates
Reduction of educational
funding by governments
Key challenges facing education in developing countries
http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forumsfiche.php?queryforumspages_id=23 x

OER as a response to some educational challenges
facing education in developing countries
http://www.elearning-africa.com/eLA_Newsportal/finding-the-sweet-spot-open-educational-resources-in-the-developing-world/

 Open educational resources
(OER) are teaching, learning,
and research resources that
reside in the public domain or
have been released under an
intellectual property license
that permits their free use and
re-purposing by others (e.g.
Creative Commons) (adapted
from Smith & Casserly 2006:
8).
Free videos
Any learner or
teacher
What are OER? Free lecture
notes

Open textbooks as a type of OER
http://www.educationdive.com/news/open-textbooks-become-popular-source-of-affordable-content/414274/

Hodgkinson-Williams & Gray (2009:110) & Hodgkinson-Williams (2014)
Copy
Customise (e.g. translate, add local content)
Combine (e.g. select and mix content)
Contribute (e.g. share locally & with the world)
OER: Degrees of openness

http://oer.avu.org/
http://open.uct.ac.za/
http://www.oerafrica.org/
Examples of OER from Africa (1)

http://www.afrivip.org/open-education-resources
http://www.tessafrica.net
Examples of OER from Africa (2)

OER policy in Africa
http://oermap.org/policy-map/

Slow uptake of OER in Africa
http://ocw.mit.edu/about/site-statistics/

http://oermap.org/oer-evidence-map/
Most OER research taking place in Global North

 Located 276 articles about OER in the Global South so far in our ROER4D Bibliography
 Busy comparing this to OER Bibliography (978 entries) provided to us by John Hilton III
15
http://tinyurl.com/ROER4D-Bibliography
Most OER research taking place in Global North

ROER4D Research: OER Adoption & Impact

ROER4D Funding
International Development Research
Centre (IDRC)
Open Society Foundations (OSF)
UK Department for International
Development (DFID)
3 year project (27 Aug 2013 - 27 Aug
2016 with an extension to Feb 2017)
Grant 1 - IDRC CAD 2 million & OSF
Grant 2 - DFID CAD 500,000
3 Regions
 South America
 Sub-Saharan Africa
 Central, South & South-East Asia
18 research projects in 7 clusters
86 researchers & associates
26 countries
16 time zones
IDRC
OSF DFID

In what ways, and under what circumstances, can the adoption of
OER impact upon the increasing demand for accessible, relevant,
high-quality, and affordable education in the Global South?
Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D)

ADOPTION STUDIES
1. In what ways, and under what
circumstances are OER being
adopted in the Global South?

IMPACT STUDIES
circumstances can OER adoption impact
upon the increasing demand for accessible,
relevant, high-quality, and affordable
education in the Global South?
ADOPTION STUDIES
circumstances are OER being
adopted in the Global South?

ROER4D
Network hub
OER Desktop
overview (1) Survey of OER
adoption by
academics & students
(1)
Academics’
adoption of OER
(2)
Teacher educators’
adoption of OER (3)
OER adoption in
one country (1)
OER impact
studies (7+1)
Baseline educational
expenditure (2)
Overview of ROER4D’s 7 Project Clusters

ROER4D’s Project Clusters & Coordination

ROER4D 7 projects, 14 countries in Africa
1. Ethiopia
2. Ghana
3. Kenya
4. Madagascar
5. Mauritius
6. Mozambique
7. Rwanda
8. Senegal
9. Somalia
10.South Africa
11.Tanzania
12.Uganda
13.Zambia
14.Zimbabwe

ROER4D Research sites and participants in Africa
SP1
• Desktop Review – Ghana, Kenya, South Africa
SP2
• Cross regional survey of student and educator OER
adoption– 12 institutions HE in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa
SP4
• Case study or academics’ adoption of OER – South Africa
SP10.1
• Impact study of educators’ practices in TESSA project
SP10.3
• Impact study on MOOC development on academics’
pedagogical practices – South Africa
SP11
• Baseline study of government spending on educational
resources – South Africa, Kenya

25
Original specific objectives:
 Build an empirical knowledge base
on the use and impact of OER
focusing on post-secondary
education
 Develop the capacity of OER
researchers
 Build a network of OER scholars
 Communicate research to inform
education policy and practice
Adapted specific objectives:
 Build an empirical knowledge base on
the use and impact of OER in
education
 Develop the research capacity of OER
researchers
 Build a network of OER scholars
 Communicate research to inform
education policy and practice
 Develop a strategic approach
towards the curation and
dissemination of research
documents and data collected in the
project
Implicit objective: Undertake research on OER as ‘openly’ as possible
ROER4D Specific Objectives

Original main research question
In what ways, and under what
circumstances can the adoption of
OER address the increasing demand
for accessible, relevant, high-quality
and affordable post-secondary
education in the Global South?
Adapted main research question
In what ways, and under what
circumstances, can the adoption of
OER impact upon the increasing
demand for accessible, relevant,
high-quality, and affordable education
in the Global South?
26
INFLUENCING FACTORS: structural, cultural, agential
OER PRACTICES: OER awareness, access, creation, 5 Rs (reuse,
revision, remixing, redistribution, retention), non-use
IMPACT INDICATORS: accessible materials, affordable & high-quality
materials, learner performance, teacher practice
ROER4D Main research question

INFLUENCING FACTORS
(See Archer)
 Structural:
 Infrastructure
 Policy
 Repositories
 ...
 Cultural
 Compliance
culture
 Management
styles
 ...
 Agential
 Awareness
 Will / volition
 …
27
OER & OER PRACTICES
(Innovation) (See Wiley,
Beetham, Hodgkinson-
Williams)
 OER as the
object/product
 Cost
 OER as a
practice/process by
EDUCATORS &
STUDENTS
 Location
 Creation
 Reuse (as is)
 Revision
 Remixing
 Retaining
 Redistribution
IMPACT INDICATORS
(of aspect of educational
problems/
development
imperatives) (See
Mulder)
 Learner
 Performance
 Satisfaction
 ...
 Teacher
 Learning materials
 Cost
 Learning
processes
 Educational
system
 Societal context
ROER4D Relationships being investigated
CHALLENGES – Access to HE, Cost of materials & Quality of materials and teaching

What
challenges are
prompting …
Whom … to
adopt OER (or
not)
In what ways
...
Under what
circumstance
s ...
Is this having
an impact
upon …
• Inequality of
access
• Cost of
materials
• Contextual
relevance of
teaching and
learning
materials
• Variable
quality of
teaching
Teachers/
educators/ tutors/
lecturers /
academics with
varying:
• Age
• Gender
• Qualifications
• Experience
• Type of
education
• Personal
knowledge &
skills
• Personal
motivation
Adopting OER by:
• Locating
• Creating
• Reusing
• Revising
• Remixing
• Retaining
• Redistributing
• Relevance of
content
• Policy
influence
• Infrastructural
issues
• Institutional
support
• Facility
provisioning
• Legal issues
• Quality
assurance
issues
• Socio-cultural
norms
• Learning
materials
themselves
• Affordability
• Quality of
content -
Localised
• Learner
performance
• Engagemen
t
• Marks
• Satisfaction
• Teacher
practice
• Flexibility
Teasing out relationships between …

Understanding OER terms
Open Educational Resources
Open
Content
Learning
Objects
Open
Courseware
Open
source
content
Etc.
Recursos
Educacionais Abertos
Ressources
éducatives
libres

Conceptual clarification strategies: Open Google
Doc

Identifying pedagogical practices in OER adoption
Awareness of OER as a concept as well as finding OER
Deliberately creating OER to share with others
Merely reusing OER as is (i.e. copying)
Revising OER (e.g. customising by translating, adding
examples, resequencing materials)
Remixing OER (i.e. combining materials from more than one
source)
Retaining OER (i.e. keeping legal copies of materials)
Redistributing OER (i.e. sharing with others openly)

Uncovering slower OER adoption than expected
Relevance of OER for various contexts
Policy influence - national, institutional and departmental
Infrastructural issues - hardware, software,
connectivity Institutional support - incentives, recognition,
rewards, technical support
Facility provisioning - uninterrupted power supply
Familiarity with intellectual property mechanisms including
Creative Commons
Quality assurance issues – accuracy, currency
Socio-cultural norms - creation of own materials,
unwillingness to use others’ materials

Establishing who is adopting OER or not
Age
Gender
Qualifications
Experience
Type of educational environment - campus-based
university, distance university
Personal knowledge and skills
Personal motivation - time, priorities
Etc.

Conceptual
Framework/s
Methods
Instrument
questions
Data
Analysis
tools
Findings
Proposal
Literature
Review
Research
process
OER
Asia
NEW
Open
project


Open Research – ROER4D intentions to share

http://roer4d.org/
Keep track of our website

ROER4D Open Magna Carta
Make open …
… if it adds value
… if it is ethical
… if it is legal
… by default
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta#mediaviewer/File:Magna_Carta_(1297_version_with_seal,_owned_by_David_M_Rubenstein).png
On public display in
the West Rotunda
Gallery of the National
Archives Building in
Washington, D.C

Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?

References
Hodgkinson-Williams, C. & Gray, E. (2009). Degrees of openness: The emergence of open educational
resources at the University of Cape Town. International Journal of Education and Development using
Information and Communication Technology, 5(5), 101-116. Available online:
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/8860 [Last Accessed 23 January 2015].
Hodgkinson-Williams, C. A. (2014). Degrees of Ease: Adoption of OER, OpenTextbooks and MOOCs in the
Global South. Keynote address at the OER Asia Symposium 2014. Available online:
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/1188 [Last accessed 3 March 2015]
Smith M. & Casserly C. (2006) The Promise of Open Educational Resources. Available online:
http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/changearticle.pdf [Last accessed 4 March
2014]

Links
Website: www.roer4d.org
Contact Principal Invesigator:
cheryl.hodgkinson-williams@uct.ac.za
Follow us: http://twitter.com/roer4D
Presentations: www.slideshare.com/roer4D

Acknowledgments & Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License.
Written by Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams,
Henry Trotter, Tess Cartmill, Sukaina Walji,
Sarah Goodier & Thomas King
Contact:
cheryl.hodgkinson-williams@uct.ac.za
Graphics by Rondine Carstens
rondine.carstens@uct.ac.za, Cheryl
Hodgkinson-Williams & Henry Trotter
henry.trotter@uct.ac.za

Researching Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogical Practices: The ROER4D Project

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