[Oer-community] My views about an OER World Map

Thu Nov 15 07:07:06 MST 2012

Dear Gerard,

Nice to see you again in a thought feeding forum like this.

I have a rather optimistic view of the situation and development in
Rwanda. With the current reform of the public higher education in
which all public institutions will merge into different colleges of
the University of Rwanda, a new college/school, The College/School of
Open and Distance Learning, will be established. I have been in the
Task Force and Working Group for the set up of this college/school
since March this year, but we started working on strategic plan to put
OER and Open Education into Practices  with the establishment of
Rwanda Education Board (REB). More specifically, I have been
volunteering in the Department of ICT in Education and Open, Distance
and ODL since August 2011.

 The original idea was to have an Open University but with the reform
mentioned above, it was reasonably decided that since it is a new idea
in Rwanda, it would be more understood if we start it at the scool
level, with th potential to grow as a college or even autonomous
university as open education practices become familiar to many
Rwandans.

At least, we have been able to convince the Ministry of Education
senior management on the practicality and life changing impact of an
ODL Institution/college/school. This resulted in the creation of a
Task Force to work on the project. We were given one month to come up
with a final report, but from a professional point of view, we found
that it was not practical to produce an operational plan of the ODL
school/college/institution in such a short period. We produced an
inception report with recommendation to set up a working group that
would dedicate some of their working hours on the project for a period
of six month. Senior leaders in the Ministry of Education were
convnced by what we were presenting and set up the Working Group.

In the final report we are writing for The Minister of Education (to
be presented late this month), we highly recommended that the school
adopt open education practices, advocate for equalization of higher
education access and be a leader in OER production and use. It is
through these practices that we see the college/school's potentials to
reach thousands of learners in Rwanda who qualify and long to attend
higher education but they are excluded by their geographical location
and financial disadvantages.

OER practices can also improve significantly the quality of
conventional higher education. In my earlier post, I describe the
scenario of getting book from my undergraduate institution (NUR) and I
think you were still teaching  there (That was in 2006). With OER,
such a hassle would have been reduced. I am currently conducting my
PhD research and most of the resources I am using are copyrighted
under the CC license, which means learners anywhere in the world can
access and use them. And of course, since I am researching the use of
OER and Open Technologies in the Development of Open Higher Education,
I have to use openly licenced resources extensively so that I
eventually preach what I practice. My work will be copyrighted under
the CC licence as well.

Best regards,

Bernard

On 11/15/12, rwagasana gerard <gerwaga at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am living in Rwanda, a small developing country (are they non developing
> countries ?) I agree with Jenna, but (at least in Rwanda), in tertiary
> education, every teacher has heard about OERs. Having a world map of OERs is
> of course interesting but it will not help here, as long as High Learning
> Institutions' managers will not be aware of the importance of OERs and of
> ICT in education in general. They talk about them in all their speeches in
> conferences but there is not (or almost) concrete action beyond words.
> Lecturers are so overloaded with lot of hours of lessons, corrections,
> etc... that they do not have enough time to think / do anything else.
> I am not pessimist, I think that those who understand must insist, insist
> and insist again... and finally, the problem will find a just solution.
> rwagasana
>
>
> Rwagasana Gerard
> P.O. Box 4301 Kigali - Rwanda
> Mob: 250-788460976
> mailto: gerwaga at yahoo.com
>
>
>
> The Secret: Thoughts become Things
>
>
>
>
>>________________________________
>> From: Virapin Jenna <jenna_nanou6 at yahoo.com>
>>To: oer-community at athabascau.ca
>>Sent: Thursday, 15 November 2012, 9:51
>>Subject: [Oer-community] My views about an OER World Map
>>
>>
>>Hello everyone,
>>
>>
>>I'm Jenna and I'm an educator from Mauritius. I'm actually new to the OER
>> environment and just learning about it since I joined my Bsc Educational
>> Technology course at the University of Mauritius.
>>
>>
> >From what I have understood about the OERs, I can definitely add that an
> OER world map is a must specially for developing countries like
> Mauritius.Foremost, let me briefly describe the actual education system in
> my country. Here, in Mauritius the concept of OER and its' impact on
> Education and Research is not really a concern and if i can say, its often
> misunderstood or unknown in my country. Mauritian Educators, mostly, still
> stick to the traditional chalk and talk method. In fact, this can be
> explained by the lack of emphasis put on education through Technology tools.
> Basically, in most primary and secondary schools, the use of technology in
> teaching and learning demands loads of improvement. I will add that even if
> some educational institutions internet is not available and I personally
> think its depriving the kids from enjoying fresh and innovative ways of
> learning.Though the Mauritian government is trying its best to facilitate
> the access to
>  technology, the OER projects are still not understood by many. I will add
> that honestly, even for me, if i didn't enroll for my course, I would still
> be wondering about the OER movement.
>>
>>Therefore,I personally think that having an OER world map will not only
>> raise awareness if an OER community in my country but will also help both
>> educators and the general public to have a better idea of all the Open
>> Resources available from the different parts of the globe and which could
>> be easily accessed and most importantly legally. It
>  will reduce the apprehension of many who don't know the purpose and
> importance of an OER community. It will be a way to connect countries
> despite their political, cultural and status differences. I personally think
> that it will be an enriching initiative especially
>  for small countries like Mauritius which is still growing economically.
> Since, we are living in the technological era, i think it's of great
> importance to initiate the learners to an OER world map. There can be so
> many exchanges and which will benefit each and everyone.
>>
>>I think to have a better appreciation of an OER World Map, OER should be
>> taught or at least delivered as an additional subject or module or in
>> terms of workshops in each and every schools or educational institutions.
>> It will facilitate its implementation and comprehension.
>>
>>However, before creating an OER World Map,I think that there are certain
>> points to be considered:
>>a) To find suitable technologies to convey OERs in a feasible, useable,
>> economically and effective way which will benefit all countries.
>>b) Fashioning the OERs to meet education requirements for each country.
>>c) It will demand that institutions to develop new curriculum framework
>> which will
>  implement OERs.
>>d) There should be constant evaluation process on the quality of the
>> resources available.
>>e) To sustain the economic viability of OER in the long term so that they
>> remain freely available in an open marketplace.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Jenna.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>Oer-community at athabascau.ca
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>>
>>
>>
>