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 Learning
5. 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
6.
7. 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
10. 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
16. ‘…the lack of content …[is] the
major barrier[s] that
governments need to tackle….’
The world telecommunications/ICT Development report,
ITU, 2010
17. 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
20. Can OER reduce Costs?
20 teacher education programmes in
12 countries
Materials available in 4 languages
In 2010, 320,000 teachers benefited
21. $$
$
$
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
26. 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
29. 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
30. the network society….
is a major source of
the structuration of
power relationships.
Manuel Castells
32. 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
33. OER by itself will not
be able to address
inequality
34. Justin Reich in https://edutechdebate.org/oer-and-digital-divide/open-educational-resources-expand-educational-
inequalities/
Open Educational Resources Expand
Educational Inequalities
35. 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/
37. Teachers who come to rural
schools, hungry
Zambia: 57%
Sierra Leone: 100%
Ghana: 36%
Lesotho: 59%
India: 12%
Source: Bennell and Akyeampong (2007)
DFID
38. 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
39. 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
40. 44% of the countries have low level
of freedom and 33% moderate
freedom in managing non-
governmental schools.
46. 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
47. 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
48. 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.
50. 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.
51. 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
54. Paris Declaration on OER
Advocacy
Capacity
Policy
Research
Photo:CC-BYDavideStorti
The 2012 Paris OER
Declaration drafting group at
UNESCO Headquarters,
Paris, France
55. OER : open schooling
Schools Teachers Consultants
Ministries
of Education
Frances Ferreira
56. 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)
57. The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth
Disaster management
Sustainable agriculture
Business &
Entrepreneurship
John Lesperance
58. Technical & Vocational
Skills Development
Impact – 150% increase in income
Alison Mead
Richardson
TVET
Institutions
TVET
Teachers
TVET
Students
Outcomes
61. The COL Approach
Encourages participation and wider
stakeholder engagement
Uses a range of appropriate technologies
Takes a holistic approach
62. 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?