OER Research in Africa

This book is evidence of the solid progress being made in response to the challenges flagged at the 2009 UNESCO conferences discussing the potential of OER. Activity in developing countries accounts for the majority of the work reported here, and the experience of using and repurposing OER receives as much coverage as their initial development. Other papers describe how OER can be fitted most productively into the wider educational ecosystem.

A formative evaluation of the African Health OER Network: Impact Study. Nairobi, OER Africa, A Saide Initiative/University of Michigan Design Phase completed at the end of 2009 focused mainly on OER take-up and production in the partner institutions (OER Africa 2009). This evaluation concluded that expectations and contractual targets had been met, or exceeded by an impressive margin, with project coordinators and participants in each partner institution having engaged OER in creative ways that were most appropriate to their own contexts.

This paper draws on data from recent interviews with thirty teacher educators in Mauritius, Tanzania and Uganda undertaken in an ROER4D impact study. The teacher educators had been identified as engaging with OER and the interviews explored the implications of this use of OER in and for practice. Drawing on this empirical data and the literature a framework of indicators for quality open practice for educators in these contexts is proposed.

There is a growing trend of academic partnerships between U.S., Canadian, and European health science institutions and academic health centers in low- and middle-income countries. These partnerships often encounter challenges such as resource disparities and power differentials, which affect the motivations, expectations, balance of benefits, and results of the joint projects. Little has been discussed in previous literature regarding the communication and project management processes that affect the success of such partnerships.