Cultural and organizational factors that facilitate the incorporation of open educational practices and open educational resources in universities of the MENA region

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Factors in the adoption of Open Educational
Resources in the MENA region
Isidro Maya Jariego, Romina Cachia, Daniel Holgado, Fran Santolaya
Universidad de Sevilla

2. MEMBERS OF THE CONSORTIUM
www.OpenMedproject.eu
This presentation
To review some of the factors that have
proven to be important in the process of
adopting Open Educational Practices,
in accordance with the experiences
shared by the OpenMed project.
• Cachia, Romina, & Maya-Jariego, Isidro. (2018).
Opening education in the MENA region: In-depth
interviews and Focus Group data with experts in
open education in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon,
Morocco and Palestine. [Data set]. Zenodo.
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1283114
OPENING UP EDUCATION
IN SOUTH-MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES

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Open Educational Practices offer
opportunities for effective organizational
development of higher education
institutions, and may respond to specific
needs such as overcrowding, dispersion and
problems of mobility…

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However, the low awareness of professors
about such opportunities and the lack of
specific incentives connected to the
professional career act as a barrier for
participation in Open Educational Practices…

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Reluctance:
• Skepticism about open education in teachers and students
• Threat – defeats a successful model of teaching.
• Lack of ICT skills.
• Shift from individual efforts to a collective formal effort.
• Better definition of the policy on open education.
• Increase in awareness across all university.
• Teacher-led teaching -> less independent students.
Time
• One of the major issues – lack of time.
• A lot of work in the learning circle was done during holidays.
• The need for professors to be released from some of their duties.
• Time specifically dedicated to OE conversion.

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The level of internationalization of
universities is a clear facilitator in the
adoption of open education: students and
academic exchanges, teaching in English,
international connections, etc. …

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Internationalization…
• A greater degree of internationalization predisposes positively
towards innovation and the adoption of OEP.
• Previous adoption of OER facilitates further OER development.
• Professors who have studied/worked abroad and maintain
international collaboration.
• Students sharing their work on an international level.
• Outgoing students to Europe and USA.
• Teaching in English.

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The open communication style in the
Mediterranean is a facilitator in the
adaptation of contents in the traditional
university structure, while producing
educational materials in Arabic also has a
potential to be explored in the localization of
contents ...

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Sustainability
• Cutting of contents as a long term benefit (replacement of books).
• Permanence of knowledge.
• Incentives for course maintenance.
Reputation
• Harmony across hierarchy (fear & potential).
• Adult in a role as a learner.
Language:
• Lack of OER in Arabic and the need for it.
• Tendency – lack of trust in material which is in Arabic due to
limited resources.
• OER in Arabic – opportunity to be pioneer.

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Conclusions

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SOME FACTORS FACILITATING CHANGE ARE…
At the institutional level
1. The necessary infrastructure to implement open educational practices.
2. Previous international experience.
3. Collaborative work groups.
4. Openness to organizational change.
At the individual level, professors with…
1. Good communication skills.
2. Capable of working in contexts of diversity.
3. Previous experience in education innovation.
4. Active online participation (“at least five times a week”).
5. And who are persistent in the implementation of change initiatives.

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Final reflections
- Cultural aspects cannot be ignored in the transition to open education.
- Cross cultural learning gaps can be overcome according to Hofstede
(1986):
- If we teach teachers how to teach
- Teaching the learner how to learn
- Teachers will only embrace open education if they are taught how to
teach using open education in their teaching.
- Students will use OER, if they understand how to use OER and if they are
aware about how OER could benefit them in terms of their learning
trajectory.

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OPENING UP EDUCATION
IN SOUTH-MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
To cite this presentation:
Isidro Maya Jariego, Romina Cachia, Daniel Holgado & Fran Santolaya. Factors in the adoption of Open
Educational Resources in the MENA region. Erasmus+ OpenMed Program. Open up education in South-
Mediterranean countries. UNIMED, Mediterranean Universities Union. Roma, Italy, October 10-12, 2018.