Presentation during Open Access Week celebrations at Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa Goal of the presentation: Address broader aspects of openness in higher education

1. Facets of Academic Openness
Igor Lesko
OA at Wits University, November 2013, Johannesburg,
South Africa
igorlesko@ocwconsortium.org
Twitter: @igor_lesko
Unless otherwise noted, the presentation “Facets of Academic Openness” by Igor Lesko is licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License”
Open Sharing, Global Benefits
The OpenCourseWare Consortium
www.ocwconsortium.org

2. Openness in HigherEducation
Education
Content
Research
Practice
T&L

3. Gold OA
Green OA
Openness in Research

4. Openness in Education Content
Podcasts
Video
Lectures
Open
Educational
Resources
(OER)
Lecture
notes,
quizzes
Open
Textbooks
http://ocw.mit.edu
http://free.uwc.ac.za/
OpenCourseWare (OCW)

5. Openness = Free&Open
©
All rights reserved
✗
Some rights reserved
✓
NO rights reserved
✓
Creative Commons = Alternative to “all rights reserved”
Creative Commons = Lets users know upfront what they can do with content
Creative Commons = Always attribute at the very minimum
Choose CC license for your work: http://creativecommons.org/choose/

6. Creative Commons: South Africa
http://www.creativecommonsza.org/

7. Openness in Practices I (T&L)
Developments in ICTs: Access to resources anytime,
anywhere
By Ed Yourdon (CCBY-SA)
By OER Africa (CCBY)
By thelampnyc (CCBY-NC-ND)
Teaching: Supporting (re) use and production of OER
Learning: Engaging your students with OER

8. Openness in Practices II (T&L)
Supports Flipped Classroom Pedagogy
By Tulane Public Relations, (CCBY)
By smannion, (CCBY-NC)
By Tulane Public Relations, (CCBY)
Using class time for discussions, clarifications, peer
interactions and additional support for your students

9. Openness in Education
Why?
• Educationis about Sharing of Knowledge
• Educational materials developed by public funds
(taxpayers money) need to be sharedOpenly
•Maximizing Return on Investment

10. Openness in Education
Why?
Rising cost of education and decreasing public funding
By marsmet471 (CCBY-NC-SA)
By mrchrisadams (CCBY-NC)
Don’t let the rising cost of education and the cost of additional educational
materials that students need to purchase be the reason why they don’t finish
their studies!

11. Openness in Education
Why?
Consider Opportunities
For your Institution: reputation, collaboration, innovation, increased access
For your faculty: collaborations, enhanced teaching practices, efficient
content development, reflexivity on teaching practice
For students: enriched learning experiences, additional support
mechanisms (in order to improve retention), bridge to formal
learning, LLL

12. Openness in HigherEducation
Showcasing Initiatives
Who we are
OpenCourseWare Consortium

13. http://www.ocwconsortium.org/

14. OCWC Members present in 49 different countries
Nearly 300 institutions and
organizations worldwide advancing
development, use and sharing of
OER and open educational practices
in higher education

15. The purpose of Open Education Week, organized by OCWC, is to raise awareness of the open education
movement and opportunities it creates in teaching and learning worldwide: http://www.openeducationweek.org/

17. Openness in HigherEducation
Initiatives in Africa
•
•
•
•
•
•
African Health OER Network initiated in 2008
150 learning modules + videos + open textbooks developed and released as OER
Resources accessed, on average, by 8,500 people per month (190 countries)
Videos on YouTube: 2,5 million views
Reference: https://open.umich.edu/blog/2012/12/17/completion-ahon/
OER Africa: http://www.oerafrica.org/

18. Openness in HigherEducation
Initiatives in Africa
•
•
•
African Virtual University: 219 modules in Mathematics, Sciences, Teacher Education, ICT
Basic Skills, Integration of ICT in Education (12 universities, 10 countries, 3 languages)
300,000 visitors during Dec 2010-Aug 2011 (US, France, Portugal, Brazil: 50% accessing
materials in English, 30% in Portuguese and 15% in French: http://goo.gl/bqTav)
African Virtual University: http://oer.avu.org/about

19. Openness in HigherEducation
Initiatives in South Africa
University of the Western
Cape: http://free.uwc.ac.za/
University of Cape Town:
http://opencontent.uct.ac.za/

20. Openness in HigherEducation
Initiatives in South Africa
University of South Africa: http://goo.gl/s7Zqo
Anchor Partner of OERU network:
http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Home
Siyavula: http://projects.siyavula.com/
Openlylicensedtextbooks in Scienceand Math
for Grade 10-12

21. Openness in HigherEducation
Policy Initiatives: IGO
Urging governments to openly license publicly funded educational materials:
http://goo.gl/OVHiF

22. Openness in HigherEducation
Policy Initiatives: South Africa
New Policy Framework Initiative in South Africa: Address demand for education through increasing
distance teaching offerings and creation of OER: www.dhet.gov.za/

23. Role of OER in Teaching & Learning
Case Studies

24. Case Study I: OCWC User Feedback Survey
http://www.ocwconsortium.org/projects/surveyresults/
Source: OCWC Feedback Survey March 2011 - May 2013
•
Responses received from 1773 respondents. Nearly 50% of respondents are students
currently undergoing secondary or university-level education. Working professionals
represent 22% of all respondents

25. Case Study I: OCWC User Feedback Survey
Source: OCWC Feedback Survey March 2011 - May 2013
More than 50% of respondents are 29 years old or younger. Next Steps: Follow-ups with 1100
respondents who agreed to follow up interviews/survey questions

26. Case Study I: OCWC User Feedback Survey
Source: OCWC Feedback Survey March 2011 - May 2013. Respondents were allowed to select
more than one option so percentages add up to more than 100%
•
•
Respondents: 90 different countries around the world
25 African countries: Tanzania, Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa,
Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Ghana, Mali, Liberia, Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Botswana, Senegal

27. Case Study II: Use/Creation of OER/OCW in SA HE
• Research carried out as part of a project on Emerging ICTs in
Higher Education (http://www.emergingicts.blogspot.com/)
• National survey conducted in 2011 with academics and elearning practitioners based at various HEIs in SA, probing
respondents on innovative teaching and learning practices
using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
over the past 3 to5years
• Out of 261 respondents, 120 indicated that they used
OER/OCW on a regular basis (24%) or at least once (22%) in
2011
Source: http://goo.gl/vyktGT

28. Case Study II: Use/Creation of OER/OCW in SA HE
• During the period 15 February 2012 – 31 March 2012, a
subsequent survey was distributed to 97 respondents who
had agreed to be contacted for follow up questions
• Aim: Motivation, Benefits & Challenges to using/producing
OER/OCW in Teaching in SA HE
• Responses received from 48 respondents (17 HEI in SA)
• Research paper published in May 2013 (peer-reviewed OA):
http://www.openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/vie
w/52

29. Case Study II: Use/Creation of OER/OCW in SA HE
Results: Rationale for using OER/OCW in Teaching
• 69% making OER/OCW available as additional resources to
their students
• 56% use OER/OCW to improve their knowledge in the field
• 46% include OER/OCW in their teaching materials or course
syllabus
• 33% of respondents have used OER/OCW to help develop or
revise curriculum for their departments or schools
Source: http://goo.gl/vyktGT

30. Case Study II: Use/Creation of OER/OCW in SA HE
Results: Reported Benefits to using OER/OCW in
Teaching
• Classes are more interesting and engaging for their
students
• They are able to improve their teaching materials or
incorporate new concepts into their teaching
• OER/OCW help them to save time preparing course
materials
• They are more motivated to teach
• Ability to use their class time more effectively for class
discussions as a result of using OER/OCW Source:
http://goo.gl/vyktGT

31. Case Study III: Use/Creation of OER/OCW in SA HE
Results: Reported and Identified Challenges to using
or producing of OER/OCW
A number of challenges that have implications for using or for
producing OER/OCW have been identified.
• Lack of knowledge related to regimes governing ownership
and use, reuse, modification of OER/OCW
• lack of awareness about policies/regulations that govern
ownership and use of course materials created by faculty
• Institutional support/infrastructural challenges
• Lack of knowledge about the existence of OER/OCW or
where to find applicable/quality OER/OCW Source: http://goo.gl/vyktGT

32. Openness in Education
Why?
Consider Opportunities for your Institution, for your faculty,for students
Consider your Institution's Mission, values and goals and how Openness in
Education can help you achieve your mission.
Join the Global Movement and help build a world with
education for all!

33. Activities of the OpenCourseWare Consortium are generously supported
by:
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Sustaining Members of the OCW Consortium:
The African Virtual University
Delft University of Technology
FundaçãoGetulio Vargas
Japan OpenCourseWare Consortium
Johns Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health
Korea OpenCourseWare Consortium
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Netease Information Technology Co.
Open Universiteit
Taiwan OpenCourseWare Consortium
Tecnológico de Monterrey
Tufts University
Universia
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
University of California, Irvine
University of Michigan
And contributions of member organizations

34. www.ocwconsortium.org
feedback@ocwconsortium.org
igorlesko@ocwconsortium.org