scholarly journals Adoption and Impact of OER in the Global South

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams ◽  
Patrícia Arinto
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Global South ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
The Body ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Open Educational Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan

Education in the Global South faces several key interrelated challenges, for which Open Educational Resources (OER) are seen to be part of the solution. These challenges include: unequal access to education; variable quality of educational resources, teaching, and student performance; and increasing cost and concern about the sustainability of education. The Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) project seeks to build on and contribute to the body of research on how OER can help to improve access, enhance quality and reduce the cost of education in the Global South. This volume examines aspects of educator and student adoption of OER and engagement in Open Educational Practices (OEP) in secondary and tertiary education as well as teacher professional development in 21 countries in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The ROER4D studies and syntheses presented here aim to help inform Open Education advocacy, policy, practice and research in developing countries.

scholarly journals Differentiation in Access to, and the Use and Sharing of (Open) Educational Resources among Students and Lecturers at Technical and Comprehensive Ghanaian Universities

Open Praxis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Pete ◽  
Fred Mulder ◽  
Jose Dutra Oliveira Neto ◽  
Kathleen Ludewig Omollo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Comprehensive Universities ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Selection Of

This paper is the second in a series of three with a common goal to present a fair OER picture for Sub-Saharan Africa, represented by large-scale studies in three countries: Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. This paper examines a deliberate selection of four Ghanaian universities with randomly sampled students and lecturers. Distinct questionnaires for students and the lecturers have been used, which generated a response from in total 818 students and 38 lecturers. The major outcomes based on the empirical data are: (i) there is a significant digital differentiation among lecturers and students at technical versus comprehensive universities in terms of their proficiency and internet accessibility; and (ii) the awareness and appreciation of the OER concept and open licensing is low but from the actual variety and types of processing by respondents of educational resources (not necessarily open) there is a preparedness for openness for the future.

The State of Access in Open and Distance Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 160-182
Author(s):  
Gbolagade Adekanmbi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
The State ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Open And Distance Learning ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Technological Platforms

This chapter examines the state of access in open and distance learning (ODL) and discusses eight nations across sub-Saharan Africa countries. The influence of open universities and private universities in promoting the use and growth of open educational resources (OERs) is seen. Governments are actively involved in enhancing policies to promote access while most visions and agendas of the countries in the sub-continent are linked to and aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The growth of information technological platforms is seen, and their influence on the development of OERs and innovations in educational programmes are evident. For the enhancement of access, the promotion of sustainable development, and the growth of tertiary education, sub-Saharan Africa must aim for more innovative use of modern technologies.

Teaching Teachers

2012 ◽  
pp. 198-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Moon
Keyword(s):  
Developed Countries ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Opportunities ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Trained Teachers ◽  
And Training

Existing institutionally based systems for educating and training teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa have not kept up with present demand, nor can they hope to meet future needs. The reasons are simple: insufficient numbers of trained teachers and inadequate educational resources. Meeting these needs is not an option; education is the cornerstone for social and economic sustainability. Failure to educate more of a nation’s population does not maintain the status quo. In today’s world of technology, “uneducated” is synonymous with lower economic and social opportunities. The educational needs cannot be met in Sub-Saharan Africa by building more physical classrooms and dormitories, a reality that is facing emerging and developed countries alike. This chapter discusses the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and how they can be a partial solution to the needs of developing countries.

scholarly journals AFRICAN TOURISM IN UNCERTAIN TIMES: COVID-19 RESEARCH PROGRESS

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1026-1032
Author(s):  
Christian M. ROGERSON ◽  
◽  
Jayne M. ROGERSON ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
Progress Report ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Tourism Research ◽  
Trigger Event ◽  
Sub Saharan

COVID-19 is a trigger event which is changing the complexion of African tourism and the directions of African tourism research. This article offers an overview and commentary on the state of African research produced during the uncertain times of 2020-2021 in specific response to the immediate impacts and changes which have been catalysed by the pandemic. The article is a progress report to capture and profile the body of focussed contributions on COVID-19 and tourism which have appeared for sub-Saharan Africa. Further, it is a contribution towards strengthening our understanding of tourism and change in the Global South. Overall, the discussion serves to highlight an emerging African scholarship which is engaged on a range of issues around three core themes of ramification, adaptation and transformation.

scholarly journals Harnessing Open Educational Resources to the Challenges of Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayshree Thakrar ◽  
Freda Wolfenden ◽  
Denise Zinn
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
School Based ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
University Of Fort Hare

The challenges to teacher educators in sub-Saharan Africa are acute. This paper describes how the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) consortium is working within institutional and national policy systems to support school-based teacher professional development. The TESSA consortium (13 African institutions and 5 international organisations delivering teacher education across 9 countries) designed and produced a bank of open educational resources (OERs) to guide teachers’ classroom practices in school-based teacher education. Drawing on examples from the TESSA consortium and from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, the authors categorize the forms of TESSA OER integration as highly structured, loosely structured, or guided use. The paper concludes by outlining success factors for the integration of OERs: accessibility, adequate resources, support for teachers, accommodation of local cultural and institutional practices, and sustainable funding.

scholarly journals Comparative Area Studies and the Study of the Global South

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-287
Author(s):  
Rudra Sil ◽  
Ariel I. Ahram
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Global South ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Range Theory ◽  
Sub Saharan

Comparative Area Studies (CAS) offers a template to bring the Global South back into the foreground of social science inquiry. CAS urges researchers to grapple directly with empirical variations derived from across the seemingly different global regions. CAS offers three comparative modes: intra-regional, cross-regional, and trans-regional. A number of scholars have used CAS’s comparative rubrics, even without knowing about the wider CAS agenda and program. CAS unsettles assumptions about discrete, fixed “regional” or civilizational blocks as well as about nomothetic theory-building aimed at universal or general laws. At the same time, CAS engages in the idea of medium-range theory-building, focusing empirical rigor and induction in order to create concepts and analyses that are portable yet contextualized. These macro-historical theories must be attentive to spatial and temporal variation in the social world. Claims of universalism are suspect. For the study of the Global South, in particular, CAS provides a path for aggregating and leveraging the wide range of observations and interpretations area specialists have to offer on regions as diverse as South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. CAS thus changes the division of labor within social science to allow greater input for scholarship derived from and originating in the developing world.

scholarly journals Higher Education and Economic Growth in Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Bloom ◽  
David Canning ◽  
Kevin Chan ◽  
Dara Lee Luca
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Development ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Développement Économique ◽  
Education And Economic Growth

Enrollment rates for higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa are by far the lowest in the world at 6%. Yet because of conventional beliefs that tertiary education is less important for poverty reduction, the international development community has encouraged African governments’ relative neglect of higher education. This article challenges beliefs that tertiary education has little role in promoting economic growth and alleviating poverty. First, we review recent evidence that higher education can produce significant public and private benefits. Next, we analyze the relationship between tertiary education and economic growth. We find evidence that tertiary education improves technological catch-up and, in doing so, may help to maximize Africa’s potential to achieve more rapid economic growth given current constraints. Investing in tertiary education in Africa may accelerate technological diffusion, which would in turn decrease knowledge gaps and help reduce poverty in the region. We also review new developments and trends in the higher education scene in Africa. Le taux d’inscription dans l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique sub-saharienne est de loin le plus faible du monde, atteignant seulement 6%. Pourtant, parce que l’enseignement supérieur est perçu comme moins important que les enseignements primaire et secondaire pour lutter contre la pauvreté, la communauté internationale a encouragé les gouvernements africains à moins y prêter attention. Cet article conteste l’idée que l’enseignement supérieur joue un rôle peu important dans le développement économique et la lutte contre la pauvreté. Tout d’abord, nous nous intéressons à de récents résultats qui montrent que l’enseignement supérieur crée des bénéfices publics et privés. Ensuite, nous analysons la relation entre l’enseignement supérieur et la croissance économique. Nous montrons que l’enseignement supérieur permet de rattraper le retard technologique et, ce faisant, pourrait aider l’Afrique à maximiser sa capacité à accélérer sa croissance économique dans les conditions actuelles. Investir dans l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique pourrait permettre une diffusion plus rapide des avancées technologiques, qui pourrait à son tour réduire la disparité de savoir et participer à la réduction de la pauvreté dans la région. Nous passons aussi en revue les nouveautés et tendances dans l’enseignement supérieur africain.

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