Accessibility of Open Educational Resources for Distance Education Learners: The Case of the Open University of Tanzania
This paper investigated the accessibility of Open Educational Resources at The Open University of Tanzania. Specifically, the study looked at staff and students’ level of awareness on the types of OER available at OUT Library, access and use trends of OER by academic staff and students, challenges faced in accessing OER and possible solutions. The study involved one hundred and twenty (120)... more
Open Educational Resources: Policy, Costs and Transformation
Open Educational Resources (OER) — teaching, learning and research materials that their owners make free for others to use, revise and share — offer a powerful means of expanding the reach and effectiveness of worldwide education. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and UNESCO co-organised the World OER Congress in 2012 in Paris. That Congress resulted in the OER Paris Declaration: a... more
Foundations for OER Strategy Development
The purpose of this document is to provide a concise analysis of where the global OER movement currently stands: what the common threads are, where the greatest opportunities and challenges lie, and how we can more effectively work together as a community. The first draft was born from a meeting of 26 OER leaders in February 2015. We then shared this document on global and regional OER lists... more
Open Practices in Higher Education: Trends and Possibilities for Africa
This report, based on a desktop review, unpacks the possibilities of opennes in African higher education, launching the discussion with a presentation and explanation of the concepts and icons associated with various tenets of open practice. The discussion then moves on to explore the factors leading to the rise of openness, including a social inclination towards opennes, government... more
Promoting Open and Distance Learning: A Focus on Open Educational Resources
Presentation at the Association of African Universities (AAU) Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP) is an assembly of the chief executive officers of member institutions or their representatives. The theme of the 2011conference was: Strengthening the Space of Higher Education in Africa. more
A Guide to Open Educational Resources
JISC made a new guide on open educational resources available in March 2013 more
Demanding Role of Open Education Resources for Distance Education Universities in Pakistan
Main findings of a study of a sample of 110 students from the AIOU Islamabad revealed that OERs have a positive effect on distance education students? learning, research and professional development. Hence proper utilization and availability of OERs are needed in Distance Education to facilitate its learners in best way. Open universities may take initiative to develop such repositories in... more
A Needs Assessment of ODL Educators to Determine Their Effective Use of Open Educational Resources
Nigeria has joined the global race of teaching and learning in a changing educational environment by adopting open and distance learning (ODL). Although it is a global trend, ODL poses some challenges at local levels, one of which is the untimely production of teaching materials currently affecting instructional delivery in Nigeria. The modern approach to ameliorating this challenge is the... more
Impact of OpenCourseWare Publication on Higher Education Participation and Student Recruitment
The free and open publication of course materials (OpenCourseWare or OCW) was initially undertaken by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other universities primarily to share educational resources among educators (Abelson, 2007). OCW, however, and more in general open educational resources (OER),1 have also provided well-documented opportunities for all learners, including the so... more
The Roles of Libraries and Information Professionals in Open Educational Resources (OER) Initiatives: Survey Report
The study focuses on the involvement of the Library as an organizational unit, and of individual librarians and other information science specialists, in open educational resources (OER) initiatives. This research study contributes to the current Open Educational Resources (OER) Programme [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/oer] [1], an initiative by JISC and the HEA whose objective is to promote the... more
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