A: African Contexts

The OER World Map provides a picture of the extent and activity of the global OER movement. Information is collected on people, organizations, services, projects, and events related to OER.

Image source: https://oerworldmap.org/

While OER activity on the African continent appears sparse in comparison to some other continents, there is growing uptake of OER in Africa. Global projects that include African countries bring together existing expertise and interested parties who see the benefits of working with OER in Africa. OER Africa is in a unique position to support these efforts within the African environment.

‘OER in Africa’  (11.44 min)

Recent and ongoing sub-Saharan Africa OER projects and organizations include:

• Saide’s OER Africa initiative – supporting higher education institutions across Africa in the development and use of OER to enhance teaching and learning; particular areas of focus include the Health OER network, Teacher Education and Agricultural Education
• African Storybook project – open access to picture storybooks in the languages of Africa
• ROER4D project – a ‘global south’ OER research network including researchers in Southern, East and West Africa
• OER4Schools – interactive teaching with and without ICT in sub-Saharan Africa
• Siyavula – science and mathematics textbooks for the South African curriculum
• TESSA – Teacher Educators in Sub-Saharan Africa

Some examples of Sub-Saharan African Universities embracing OER:

• Africa Nazarene University (ANU) – Kenya
• African Virtual University (AVU) – Kenya
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology – South Africa
• Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) – Ghana
• National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) – Nigeria
• Open University of Tanzania (OUT) – Tanzania
• University of Cape Town (UCT) – South Africa
• University of the Free State (UFS) – South Africa
• University of Pretoria, Veterinary Sciences Faculty – South Africa
• University of South Africa (UNISA) – South Africa
• University of the Western Cape, School of Public Health (UWC) – South Africa

1. If you are from a non-African institution, what topic or theme linked to Africa would be of interest to you, your colleagues, and/or your students?
2. If you are from an African institution, can you think of a topic/subject/course that has a distinctively African perspective and would be of interest to a global audience?
3. Does it contain unique materials that could be shared under an open licence?
4. What would need to happen to do this?