Project Description

There is growing consensus that the publication and use of open educational resources have significant benefits to both producers and users of the resources; especially in developing countries. However, so far, efforts to support publication of open education resources has largely focused on developed countries, implying that the knowledge in developing country universities is less relevant. Fortunately this is slowly changing, and projects are experimenting with the publication of OER and their use in teaching and learning in developing country universities.

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a leader in the field of open source software and open education. The institution has a progressive open content policy, which sets out guidelines for publication of copyright materials owned by the university under free and open content licenses. UWC has a long history of using technology to support learning and teaching. UWC manages AVOIR, a network of African universities that develop free software for use in higher education and build free software development capacity. UWC participated in the EU funded FLOSSWORLD project and is a member of the upcoming FLOSSINCLUDE project, and is a member of the Open Courseware Consortium. This work is a continuation of UWC's historical role in support of the South African struggle for political freedom. It revisits the political ideals of the past in the context of the knowledge economy, in which access to knowledge and its effective use determine the socio-economic development of people and countries.

Current approach to publishing OER / The problem

Most Open Courseware projects have implemented a lecturer focused strategy, trying to make it as easy as possible for lecturers to publish their materials. This is the MIT OpenCourseWare model, which has been widely copied and replicated in other institutions; although usually on a much smaller scale. Typically a number of support services are provided by staff members of these Open Courseware projects, including copyright clearance and management, collection and design of materials and turning them into web-based resources (HTML pages, etc.). Especially in the context of developing country universities, there are some challenges to such a support

Intensive lecturer-focused approach:

Lecturers are busy, expecting them to do more work is often not feasible. And even those that are enthusiastic and want to help, often find it difficult to balance their many other responsibilities.

Since we can't expect the lecturers to take on much of the work themselves, we need to provide support services, both for developing digital course materials, and navigating copyright restrictions that might apply. Good and experienced staff in both of these areas is in high demand and scarce, which means salaries are high.

Providing the needed support services usually requires a long-term source of funding and support from the institution. This is the model that UWC has experimented with during the past year and the results have been disappointing. Input from lecturers is minimal, and the project lacks resources to hire skilled staff on a long-term basis. We have concluded that this is not a sustainable model for UWC to implement.

A new approach:

To overcome these challenges, and in order to develop a sustainable model for OER production and use, UWC is planning to shift its OER publishing strategy to more closely involve students. We are intending to use the model of “dScribes” that was developed at the University of Michigan and adapt it to our local needs. Students will work closely with faculty to record all materials (including make audio recordings of lectures) and compile them in an open repository, accessible to other students as a resource to support their course work, and available on the public Internet.

Expected outcomes:

* UWC students are aware of open educational resources and able to use Web 2.0 tools effectively to publish and use them.

* More UWC educational materials are turned into digital collections and published on the Internet for use by both students and public Internet users.

* A sustainable strategy for OER publishing at a previously disadvantaged university is developed and tested (best practices can be shared with other universities).

Outputs:

* Published open educational resources for 5 UWC courses.

* Students trained in the use of digital equipment and software for recording, editing, and publishing open educational resources.

* Students trained in the assessment and clearance of copyright materials.

* Best practices recorded on UWC Free Courseware website in the form of student blogs.