In celebration of Open education Week (10-15 March 2014), we hosted an evening event at Siyavula to spread the message about open eductaion and OER. We specifically looked at what this means to us in South Africa where we have such a diverse education system with many challenges and how individuals can get involved in promoting open education and strengthening the movement. This can be as easy as using open licenses on any work you create, to taking part in a MOOC to becoming a volunteer on one of our Siyavula projects and joining a larger, growing community of people passionate about education and striving to make a difference.

2. OPEN education?
Let's get your initial
ideas!

3. Why open education matters
Link to video: http://vimeo.com/43401199

4. “a collective term to describe institutional
practices and programmatic initiatives that
broaden access to the learning and training
traditionally offered through formal
education systems”

5. “open” in open education =
elimination of barriers
What barriers?
● High cost
● Access to resources
● Distance to institutions
● Restrictive copyright laws
● Incompatible technology
● Academic admission requirements
● Accreditation

6. When and how did it all start?
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“Everyone has the right to education.
Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages”
(United Nations, 1948, Art. 26, para. 1)

7. A bit of history...
On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction (CC-BY)

8. A bit of history...
On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction (CC-BY)
Global
Open
Education
movement

9. Take home message
Openness in education is not a new idea.
Society's knowledge should be a common good.
Fundamentally, education is a human right.
On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction (CC-BY)

10. Key players
Open Source Initiative (CC-BY)
David Wiley (CC-BY)
David Wiley
1998: “Open Content”
A creative work freely available for modification,
use and redistribution under a license similar to
those used by the Open Source / Free Software
community
The 4Rs:
Reuse
Remix
Revise
Redistribute

11. Key players
Richard Baranuik
1999: Connexions
A global repository for educational content,
provided by volunteers, available for remixing,
editing and download in various formats.

12. Key players
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2001: MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT committed to putting all their content (lecture
notes, syllabi, lecture videos) for all their courses
on the web, freely accessible to the public

13. Open Educational Resources
(OER)
"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. Open educational resources include full courses, course
materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software,
and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support
access to knowledge"
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

14. Key players
Larry Lessig
2001: Creative Commons
A non-profit organization that enables the sharing
and use of creativity and knowledge through free
legal tools.
Lawrence Lessig (CC-BY)

15. A shared culture
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DKm96Ftfko

16. www.creativecommons.org
Closed Open
By attribution
No derivatives
Share-alike
Non-commercial

17. Open licenses are a tool to enable
sharing, legally

18. A global change

19. OER initiatives

20. Enter the MOOC
Massive Open Online Course
2012: “The year of the MOOC”

21. Enter the MOOC
MOOC poster (CC-BY)

22. Open education
What does this mean to us at Siyavula?

23. CommunityCommunity
Technology
Technology
Openness
Openness
Siyavula – 'we are opening'
Siyavula is a social enterprise built on
community, openness and technology,
working to make high quality educational
resources available to every learner and
teacher in South Africa.

25. What we have done

26. Technology enables and enriches

27. Open everything...
Open processes - iterative, transparent and collaborative
Open copyright licenses - freedom to distribute, adapt and enhance
Open standards - formats that enable the freedoms
Opensource software - freedom distribute, adapt and enhance

28. Open education
What does this mean to Africa and
to South Africa?

29. Our context and challenges
CC-BY on Flickr
Parklands School gallery
Contexts abound and all are
challenging
Every child deserves a chance

30. Benefits of open licenses and OER
OER are freely available for use by educators and learners,
without the need to pay royalties
Remember the 4 Rs?
Reuse
Remix
Revise
Redistribute
Retain

31. Opening up access to education
and resources will help
CC-BY on Flickr CC-BY on Flickr
Parklands School gallery
● Build capacity by providing educators
free or low-cost access to tools, content and
communities of practice
● Reduce the cost of access to educational
materials
● Adapt and develop materials relevant to
African contexts and learners

32. National distribution in South
Africa
~ 10 million books
In South Africa,
opening up education
and making resources
openly available is only
PART OF THE
SOLUTION
We also need teacher
training, capacity and
accountability

33. Benefits of open licenses and OER
Grant freedoms instead of impose restrictions
Sharing is fundamental to teaching
Collaboration

34. Communities of open practice
Share ideas
Adapt
Localize
Translate
CC-BY OER Africa

35. Open education and OER in Africa
Plays a leading role in supporting higher
education institutions across Africa in the
development and use of OER to enhance
teaching and learning, covering teacher
education, agriculture and health.
The African Virtual University released 73 of its
courses as OER in 2006, and has since
developed the OER@AVU repository to increase
the number of Africans using and adapting OER.
An initiative which brings together teachers and
teacher educators across sub-Saharan Africa,
offering a range of OER to support school based
teacher education and training.

36. Open education
What does this mean to you?
How can you get involved?
CC-BY Stephen Borengasser The Noun Project

37. Embrace open!
https://creativecommons.org/choose/
Use open licences so anyone can draw on your
work for educational purposes

38. Use OER
Personally or in your classroom
And if you adapt it, improve it, localize it, share it back so
others can benefit!

39. Strengthen the movement
Take part in a MOOC
www.mooc-list.com
● A beginner's guide to irrational behaviour (Coursera)
● Exploratory data analysis (Udacity)
● Exploring Beethoven's piano sonatas (Coursera)
● The future of fashion (Marist College)
● The science of gastronomy (Coursera)

40. Strengthen the movement
Get involved in Citizen Science

41. CommunityCommunityTechnology
Technology
Openness
Openness
Community - Volunteers

42. Workshops
Community - Volunteers
Online proofreading
Online translation

43. Our volunteer community adds great value both contextually and practically
– more eyes going over our content means fewer errors slip through
Community - Volunteers

44. Community - Recognition

45. Community
It's easy to get involved and it's fun!
<bridget@siyavula.com>

46. Challenges of OER?
Technology
Awareness
Sustainability
Open business models

47. 12 March
● Creative Common Version 4.0 for Educators and Education
● How to use Open Resources in the Classroom
● How can you get an OER degree?
● Inspiring Educators with Open Educational Ideas
13 March
● Teachers Teaching Teachers – Exploring Open in K-12 Education
● Exploring the Battle for Open
14 March
● OER & MOOCs: What's the fuss? (UCT)

48. Please don't hesitate to contact me!
megan@siyavula.com
@megan.beckett2