An Assessment of Open Educational Resources by students in selected Academic Institutions in Southwest, Nigeria

This paper examined assessment of Open Educational Resources (OER) by students in selected Academic Institutions in Southwest Nigeria. A descriptive research design was used for this study and the instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire. The population of this study comprised two hundred and fifty two respondents from selected academic institutions and a stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents from each of the nine institutions investigated. This study assessed the use of Open Educational Resources by students in nine academic institutions in Nigeria which comprised (Federal, State and Private Universities; Polytechnics; and Colleges of Education) in Nigeria. Findings illustrates that 40.5% of students do not use OER because they are not aware of OER. Male students use more OER than females. Finding indicates that 21.4% of students access OER through multimedia, while 32.5% of students access OER with their laptops because it is portable and convenient to move from one location to another. Analysis shows that Master degree students had 20.6% awareness of OER than other class of students. Result shows that students of government owned institutions are more knowledgeable in OER as University of Lagos have the highest with 15.1% through types of institutions. Analysis from Federal Government owned institutions such as (university, polytechnic and college of education) indicates a high percent of 41.3% which may be due to the fact that Federal Government institutions possess the bests of scholars because years of training and experience on the job, and interaction between lecturers and students from different states, culture and religion in Nigeria

The role of libraries and librarians in promoting access to and use of open educational resources in Tanzania: The case of selected public university libraries

This paper examined the role of libraries and librarians in promoting access to and use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in selected Tanzanian public university libraries. Specifically, the study sought to find out the level of OERs awareness among librarians and the role played by librarians in promoting access to and use of OERs in Tanzania. The study also set out to identify challenges encountered by librarians in promoting access to and use of OERs. Fifty two librarians of different ranks and academic qualifications from four public university libraries participated in this study. These were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and documentary review. Data collected were analysed using SPSS version 18.0. The findings show that librarians are aware of the concept OERs and also play multiple roles in promoting awareness on OERs. Integration of OERs in university websites facilitates their accessibility and use. The study further reveals thatlimited awareness on existing OERs and lack of policy guidelines on the use of OERs are major challenges facing librarians in promoting access to and use of OERs. The study recommends more OERs awareness creation campaigns and formulation of institutional OERs policies. Keywords: Libraries, librarians, open educational resources, open access, Tanzania

University teachers and open educational resources: case studies from Latin America

The Open Education movement has made efforts to systematise experiences and to evaluate the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER). However, OER adoption is not part of the prevailing paradigm in higher education, both at the global level and in Latin America. This paper describes results of a study that analysed the social representations regarding the development, use, and reuse of OER by university teachers in their pedagogical practices. We conducted a study of 12 cases from Latin American universities based on Grounded Theory. The results show that the use and reuse of OER lacks of public and institutional policies. The main agents are teachers organised in teams that support OER adoption. The reasons that encourage the creation of OER are mainly intrinsic, such as the pleasure derived from contributing and sharing, as well as external and related to professional development needs from the reflection on one’s own educational practice. Educators consider it essential to evaluate the resources created so that they can be reused in continuous improvement processes. Commercial use and misappropriation of the works are two of the main tensions identified. The community factor of teaching guides most behaviours in OER adoption in educational institutions and is presented as an inherent part of the development and transformation of the curriculumThis research was supported in part by: Red Iberoamericana para la Usabilidad de Repositorios Educativos, Red 513RT0471 (RIURE); Interdisciplinary Space, Sectoral Commission of Education, and Sectoral Commission of Scientific Research, Universidad de la RepúblicaS

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes – February 2018

This is the archived record of the February 21, 2018 faculty senate meeting minutes

A Latin American Critical Conceptual Model on the Adoption of Open Educational Resources

A conceptual model on OER adoption is presented, as the substantive theoretical synthesis of a Grounded Theory study, whose purpose was to identify which factors influence the adoption of OER among teachers in Latin American universities. Main theoretical-methodological bases are rooted and analised, in comparison with the traditional approach identified in the most recent literature. From a double “emic” perspective on agency and structure, the faculty and the university institution, the resultant conceptual model includes four categories influencing the adoption of OER among professors in Latin American universities: 1) Construction of Teacher Professional Identity; 2) Practices and Transformations in the Curriculum; 3) Creation, Use and Opening of Digital Educational Resources; and 4) Social Representations about Repositories of OER. Properties and dimensions of each category are presented and described. The critical conceptual model may be adopted by researchers from all regions who seek to unveil and decolonise the hidden curriculum of OER.S

The Power of Open: Benefits, Barriers, and Strategies for Integration of Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming a significant, mission-driven trend within educational literature. To help address rising costs, instructors and designers are looking to OER to effectively replace traditional instructional content, which requires more than just identify and replace. Drawing from 51 OER studies conducted in countries across the five continents, this systematic literature review explored the empirical themes evident in the current research on a global scale. This review found (1) discoverability, sustainability, and remixing are significant barriers that stand in the way of OER disrupting traditional textbook models; (2) there is no significant difference in learning outcomes when instructors incorporate OER; and (3) implementation of OER as instructional strategies is challenging but can be effective in supporting positive learning outcomes when properly designed. The paper concludes with a discussion of gaps in the literature, considerations for implementation and further directions for future research

STUDENTS’ LEARNING OUTCOMES OF BLENDED LEARNING IMPLEMENTATION IN WRITING LESSON

Writing requires specific skills in brainstorming, organizing, editing, and proofreading. There are varieties of research conducted in finding which approach is the most impactful to teach writing and one of the approaches emphasized is blended learning, widely acceptable in education field. Nevertheless, its effectiveness on writing is still questionable and the effort to integrate blended learning in teaching writing needs a thorough consideration. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to researcrh the adequacy of blended learning approach on students’ writing performance. Employing an explanatory research type, an experimental research design was applied. A mixed-method method was executed to collect, analyse and interpret data. For quantitative, a quasi-experimental design was carried out to 60 respondents who were selected through purposive samplings and distributed to control and experimental groups. The study used pretest and posttest for both groups. The result shows that there is no significant difference of blended learning and students’ writing performance between the experimental group and control group in the pretest and posttest. Overall, the study shows that both instructions have place in writing. Hence, educators have to become eclectic practitioners who are able to apply suitable approach that can contribute to the growth of teaching and learning writing

Making Free Online Learning Sustainable Through Reduction of Production Costs

A major reservation about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is that they are extremely expensive to develop and deliver and for most institutions this cannot be justified on a sustainable financial basis. As part of the MOOC technological revolution, costs and funding opportunities have been cited as reasons not to proceed (Gaebel, Kupriyanova, Morais, and Colucci, 2014). Whereas, the findings to date show that this may not be the case for all, educational institutions are often eager to engage technology and embed it into programmes (Hollands, and Devayani, 2014). There are many examples of excellent learning materials being created and distributed on the web using low cost techniques. The Khan Academy has offered free world class education for anyone, anywhere in the world since 2006. Not only are these materials freely available for reuse, but the technologies and techniques used to create them can be easily used to cheaply create new materials. The authors, in a project funded by Intel Ireland, are currently developing and testing workflows and techniques that will facilitate the rapid development of MOOCs at relatively low cost. This project, which will include the delivery of four MOOCs in coding, aimed at young people, endeavouring to measure both the costs involved and the educational impact on the participants through qualitative and quantitative research metrics. The design, methodology and approach to innovative pedagogic practices will be tested, as will the opportunities for peer to peer learning among the students, the use of asynchronous forums, auto/peer grading and collaborative activities among the developers. A prerequisite of the project is the voluntary effort of the developers. However, as production costs are often regarded as the most expensive element of the MOOC, this project will demonstrate that by completing it “in-house” the costs will be negligible. In a recent study 38% of institutions believed that cost is a key concern (Hollands, and Devayani, 2014). The video submissions will be uploaded onto the MOOC platform as both an online repository for the learning material and as a quality checking mechanism and rolled out in a pilot programme from January 2015. The research describes some of the proposed methods that can be used to develop MOOCs at very low cost, but also how, with a competency based approach to accreditation, they may be the catalyst of significant change in higher education. (Lederman, 2013, Mulligan, 2013). In this project open badges will be used as recognition of participation and achievement, with the end goal of international accreditation, as global currency. This is despite the fact that 72% of educators believing that formal accreditation should not be allowed (Petkovska, Delipetrev, and Zdravev, 2014). One of the partners has agreed to trial the MOOC’s with a Zambian student cohort, which will help achieve the globalisation of MOOC’s. The pilot will be available to students within the developers sector and through wider participation with open availability to all by a registration process. As part of the research data on MOOC’s the studies look to determine if the realisation of a digital campus in terms of student satisfaction by completing a MOOC are different from the results for traditional students (Walker, and Brooks, 2013). The final success of the project will be determined by the merit of scalability and by the cost analysis

TECHNOLOGICAL METHODS AND PROMOTION OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN RIVERS STATE OWNED LIBRARIES

The integration of technological methods, such as institutional repositories, databases and library websites holds the potential to significantly enhance the accessibility, customization, and collaborative development of Open Educational Resources (OER), transforming the landscape of open education. This study investigated Technological Methods and Promotion of Open Educational Resources in Rivers State Owned Libraries. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The populations of the study was 22 librarians in Rivers State Owned University Libraries. Census sampling technique was used since the population was not large. Questionnaire was used for data collection. A total of 19 copies of the questionnaires were found valid for analysis. The data was analyzed using Simple percentage. Findings from the study revealed that the open educational resources available in Rivers state owned libraries were Books, serial materials, research articles and papers, and online resources. Institutional repositories and databases were used in promoting open educational resources. There are challenges such as Lack of security policy, Funding and Sustainability, Lack of necessary digital literacy skills to effectively use and navigate online educational resources and insufficient technological infrastructure. It was recommended that libraries should provide library websites that will be adopted in promoting open educational resources in Rivers State owned libraries

The impact and reach of MOOCs:a developing countries’ perspective

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a recent but hugely popular phenomenon in the online learning world. They are hailed by many as a solution for the developing world’s lack of access to education because MOOCs can provide learning opportunities to a massive number of learners from anywhere in the world as long as they can access the course through Internet. However, a close consideration of the ability of learn- ers from most developing countries to make use of MOOCs seems to contradict this rhetoric. This paper discusses features of MOOCs and looks at them from a developing countries’ perspective to conclude that due to a complicated set of conditions (‘access’, language, computer literacy among others) prevailing in developing countries, MOOCs may not be a viable solution for education for a large proportion of people in these ar- eas of the world. The paper further shows the need for more data on the demograph- ics of MOOC participants from developing countries to form a better understanding of MOOCs role in educating people from developing countries