OER Africa An introduction to Open Educational Resources

OER Africa An introduction to Open Educational Resources OUT Institutional Policy Workshop Open University of Tanzania 12 th January, 2009 CC 3. 0 BY –SA

Who we are Ø OER Africa is an innovative new project, headquartered in Nairobi, under the auspices of SAIDE. Ø Established to play a leading role in driving the development and use of OER in Africa. Ø Seed funding from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation to harness African experts and expertise to deploy OER to the benefit of Africa’s higher education systems. OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 2

Why do we exist? Ø OER Africa believes that OER can positively support development and capacity of higher education systems and institutions across Africa Ø OER Africa is concerned that if the concept and practice of OER evolves predominantly outside and for Africa – we will not be able to liberate its potential January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 3

What is the OER Africa premise? Ø To ensure that the power of OER is harnessed by Africans for Africans by building collaborative networks across the continent. Ø To facilitate the aggregation of information and human expertise that produces knowledge Ø There is a need to establish, encourage, and promote African communities of practice for OER that support the entire process of educational design, not simply use of external content January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 4

A Vision for Higher Education in Africa: Ø Vibrant, sustainable African higher education institutions that play a critical role in building and sustaining African societies and economies, by producing the continent’s future intellectual leaders through free and open development and sharing of common intellectual capital January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 5

Our Mission Ø to establish vibrant networks of African OER practitioners by connecting like-minded academics from across the continent to develop, share, and adapt OER to meet the higher education needs of African societies. January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 6

Value Proposition Ø By creating and sustaining human networks of collaboration, face-to-face and online – OER Africa will enable African academics to harness the power of OER, develop their capacity, and become integrated into the emerging global OER networks as active participants rather than passive consumers. January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 7

A proposed approach: 1. Work together to enhance higher education institutional capacity to design, develop, and deliver quality higher education programmes and materials; 2. Advocate the merits of collaboratively creating and sharing intellectual capital in higher education as a mechanism to improve quality and enhance long-term cost-effectiveness; January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 8

Approach (cont’d) 3. Establish an online platform that facilitates African collaboration in OER development and sharing, while inter-connecting this platform with the many OER communities emerging globally [creative] ; 4. Facilitate the re-development and reinvention of African higher education programme curricula and course materials in order to ensure that higher education programmes on the continent are of exceptional quality and direct contextual relevance, producing world class graduates. January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 9

INTRODUCING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 10

Why Open Educational Resources? Concept: Concept Ø Educational resources for use by educators and learners, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees. Ø New licensing frameworks remove copying / adaptation restrictions Ø OER hold potential for reducing the cost of accessing educational materials. OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 11

What Potential Lies in OER? Ø Access to the means of production enables development of educators’ competence in producing educational materials Ø Access to instructional design necessary to integrate such materials into high quality programmes of learning. Ø Principle of allowing adaptation of materials enables learners to be active participants in educational processes OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 12

How do we Capture this Potential? Ø Through the potential of a collaborative partnership of people. . . working in communities of practice focussed on the four main elements of the OER evolutionary process: Creation, Organization, Dissemination and Use OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 13

Dispelling Some Myths Ø Content = education Ø Good content will overcome institutional capacity constraints Ø OER should be a process of voluntarism Ø OER will make education cheaper in the short-term Ø Openness automatically equates with quality Ø OER is about e-learning OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 14

INTRODUCING CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSING January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 15

What is the most commonly used Alternative License Framework? Ø Most developed alterative licensing approach is that developed by Larry Lessig of Stanford University in 2001, called Creative Commons (CC). Ø CC licences most often used for OER work and provide various options. Ø The CC approach provides user-friendly open licences for digital materials and so avoids the automatically applied copyright restrictions. January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 16

How do CC Licenses Work? CC licences are based on four specific conditions: Ø attribution, Ø share alike, Ø non-commercial and Ø no derivative works OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 17

What are the CC License Conditions? (1) Creators choose a set of conditions they wish to apply to their work. Ø Attribution You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request. Ø Share Alike You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work. OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 18

What are the CC License Conditions? (2) Ø Non-commercial Ø No Derivative Works You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it. http: //creative commons. org OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 19

How do CC Licenses Protect Intellectual Property? All CC Licenses assert the author’s right over copyright and the granting of copyright freedoms and require licensees to: Ø Obtain permission should they wish to use the resource in a manner that has been restricted; Ø Keep the copyright notice intact on all copies of the work; Ø Publish the licence with the work or include a link to the licence from any copies of the work; Ø Not change the licence terms in anyway; Ø Not use technology or other means to restrict other licences’ lawful use of the work. January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 20

What are the various CC Licenses? . Based on your choices, CC will suggest a license formulation that clearly indicates how other people may use your work. Attribution (By) Attribution — Share Alike Attribution — No Derivatives January 12, 2009 http: //creative commons. org OUT Policy and OER Workshop 21

What are the various CC Licenses? . Attribution — Non-Commercial — Share Alike Attribution — Non-Commercial — No Derivatives OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 http: //creative commons. org 22

What can Creative Commons Do for Me? Ø CC licenses give you flexibility v e. g. you can choose to only pre-clear non-commercial uses or to combine several license conditions Ø CC Licenses protect the people who use your work v As long as they abide by the terms you have specified, they don’t have to worry about copyright infringement. Ø Relevant content is available to you under various CC Licenses v If you are looking for content that you can freely and legally use, there is a giant pool of CC-licensed creativity available to you. OUT Policy and OER Workshop January 12, 2009 23

Q&A January 12, 2009 OUT Policy and OER Workshop 24

Thank you Catherine Ngugi Project Director catherine. ngugi@gmail. com Neil Butcher OER Strategist neilshel@icon. co. za CC 3. 0 BY –SA