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Group 3. Developing Country Policies on the use of OER in Southern Africa. Mr Athanasius Mulenga – Zambia (Chairperson) Prof Honoratha Mushi – Tanzania Dr Sushita Ramdoo – Mauritius ( D ept Chairperson) Mr Peterson Dlamini - Swaziland Mrs Lurdes Nakala – Mozambique
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Group 3 Developing Country Policies on the use of OER in Southern Africa
Mr Athanasius Mulenga – Zambia (Chairperson) • Prof HonorathaMushi – Tanzania • DrSushitaRamdoo – Mauritius (Dept Chairperson) • Mr Peterson Dlamini - Swaziland • MrsLurdesNakala – Mozambique • Ms Trudi van Wyk – South Africa (Scribe) Members
When there are wider choices – students can make better informed decisions about materials. There will be an improved connection between student needs and available educational materials/programmes • When quality materials are available it will improve the quality of poorer materials (pressure to improve quality of materials) • Collaboration/partnerships/communication/sharing is encouraged • Enhance multi-disciplinary inputs into development and use of materials as well as enrich the curriculum by drawing from other disciplines • Enable individuals to construct their own learning experience by building their own programmes • Capacity building of both teaches and learners • Repurposing materials takes less time to produce – pace of materials development is faster Educational benefits of OER
Cost-effective • Increased access • Sharing of resources drive down the unit cost of materials per institution/individual • Time efficiency leads to cost benefits Financial benefits of OER
Political support and commitment (political will) • Managing a change agenda • Lack of understanding of reallocating/prioritising/ repurposing of financial resources …….. Can be addressed through: • advocacy and communication of the issues and its benefits • Modeling good practice on the ground/practitioners and ‘sell the idea’ upstream • Capacity building at all levels – practical e.g. development through VUSSCbootcamps, TESSA Strategic Educational Challenges
Ignorance • Lack of understanding of the power of OER • Lack of workable examples • Lack of trust in change agendas communicated to decision makers • Resistance to change – can not think out of the box • Advocates of OER are too theoretical/abstract in communicating the issues • Decision makers do not see OER as a solution to problems • Absence of a champion such as Minister Danny Faure for VUSSC • Focus too much on the formal school/ODL situation and benefits of OER can be better introduced in other areas such as HIV/AIDS, climate change - Should permeate other sectors • Lack of visibility of the benefits of OER for non-formal and informal learning programmes What prevents harnessing OER …..