1. PhD Proposal
Presentation
Judith Adhiambo Pete
School of Social Sciences
Tangaza University College
Nairobi, Kenya
GO-GN Seminar 2013
Cape Town 7-12 December 2013

2. 2
Personal Story
• In 1994-completed my Primary education &
stayed home for 1 year due to lack of fees
• 1999-completed Secondary School Edu &
stayed home for 2years due to lack of
financial support to post-secondary edu.
• 2001-joined University through scholarship &
wondered how education can be made
accessible & affordable to all (orphans etc)
• Very few books in library for compulsory
courses
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

3. 3
• Got a degree but ‘Hakuna Kazi’! No Jobs!
• Learnt how to use computers and liked it
• Wondered how the computer can be used to
promote access to edu. for pupils in the village
(girls) who have no idea of how to proceed
with their edu.
• 2007, MA thesis on the use of ICT as strategy
by MFIs in Kenya
• 2008-accessed through the web and learnt a
lot about OER & realized it can be a path to
achieve education for all
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

4. 4
• The more I found out about OER the more it
struck me; noticed OER can offer a great
potential for Africa; but if nothing is done,
OER might also widen the gap between Africa
& the North
• Thru OER that I noticed that I needed an
education that is:
• Open to learners needs: i.e. affordable, do-able,
good quality, interesting & beneficial
• Open to employability & capability development:
i.e. suit the changing society& labor market,
influence of globalization, scope for new skills &
personal growth ( Mulder, F., 2013)
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

5. 5
How?
• OERs have the potential to:
• reduce costs
• improve quality, and
• increase access to educational
opportunities for all ( women, marginalized
societies –Nomads).
THETERFORE, OER development and
deployment is one path that could
contribute to achieving education for all
and MDGs.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

6. 6
Cost Reduction
• A vast number of
• If existing OERs are
existing OERs can be used, funds allocated
accessed, adapted,
for resource acquisition
and used by one or
and development can
millions of learners,
be reduced
thereby minimizing • The availability of OERs
the costs associated
in the form of textbooks
with the acquisition
allows institutions and
and development of learners to divert funds
educational
from the purchase of
resources
copyrighted textbooks
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

7. 7
Improving Quality
• The quality of
education improves
when OERs are
developed and used
because instructors and
learners then have
access to resources
that they were unable
to access previously as
these resources were
copyright protected
and/or costly to obtain
before.
• have access to up-to-date,
quality materials and no
longer have to rely on
decades-old books
• OERs can be used by anyone
(irrespective of gender, age)
• OERs are often developed in a
collaborative manner and
peer reviewed by
international experts
• promote educational
excellence
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

8. 8
Increasing Access
• OERs are based on
the premise that
knowledge is
created by society
and should be
shared for the
benefit of society.
• OERs can be used
by anyone, at any
age and at any
time.
• OERs can serve those
who may be
geographically or
financially
disadvantaged
• I wouldn’t have
wasted 3 years if OER
was in use/ practice
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

9. OER what do we know
already?
• OERs are defined as teaching, learning, and
research resources with an intellectual
property license that permits them to be
reused, reworked, remixed, and redistributed
(D’Antoni, 2009; Hilton, Wiley, Stein, &
Johnson, 2009; Plotkin, 2010; Wiley, 2009).
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013
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10. 10
• OER has been inexistence for over a decade and
that this open content is not being used by
educational organizations in the developing
countries as much as anticipated (Hatakka, 2009).
• Many countries across the globe have adopted
policies to encourage the access and use of Open
Educational Resource,( Hodgkinson, ROER4D,
2013) i.e., United States have increased public
access to OER such as open content materials
from OpenLearn, Khan academy
OpenCourseWare (OCW), Merlot, etc.
• In Africa, Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
(TESSA) have also initiatives that promote OER
usage:http://www.tessafrica.net/
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

11. 11
• Research by Wiley, Hilton, Ellinhton & Hall
(2012) shows that adopting open textbooks
can reduce costs by over 50% (ROER4D, 2013)
i.e. students at the University of Nairobi and the
Open University of Tanzania have reduced
their textbook costs by using AVU OERs that
are freely available online:
http://www.avu.org/
• South Africa Institute for distance Education
has a project advocating for openly licensed
stories for children (2-9 years):
www.africanstorybookproject.pwias.ubc.ca/co
ntent/about/
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

12. 12
• The resources available from the OER Africa
http://www.oerafrica.org/, AgShare Project
might be useful to farmers, people could learn
more about HIV/AIDs from the resources
offered by the OER Africa Health Network;
managers & administrators could gain access
to leadership materials from
OpenLearn:http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

13. What don’t we know & why?
• Irrespective of the said OER benefits (success
stories), there still exists ‘inequalities
between OER Use in the contemporary
society.” So to speak, in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• WHY?
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013
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14. 14
There4, this research Objectives
• Seeks to:
1. Understand the extent to which students and
educators have access to and use digital
materials
2. Examine the circumstances under which they
have access to OER
3. Identify the proficiency of educators in
creating and/ or using the OER materials
4. Explore the perceptions of students &
educators on the value of OER in sub-Saharan
Africa.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

15. 15
Research questions
1. What extent do students and educators
have access to and are able to use digital
devices connected to the internet?
2. Under what circumstances do students and
educators have access to OER?
3. How proficient are the educators in
creating and or using OER?
4. What are students and educators
perceptions of the value of OER?
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

16. Methodology
• Involves a survey that will provide a description
of OER access and usage in the said counties.
• Data for this research are made up of primary
and secondary data. The primary data will be
collected from the field in the 12 participating
universities from the region.
• The secondary data will be from published
materials and reports regarding OER adaptation,
use and re-use available on the surveyed
universities in Eastern Africa and beyond and the
creation of OER available on the initiatives in
Africa such as TESSA, AVU etc.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013
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17. 17
• Participants
• The target group are students & educators
(lecturers & Tutors) in the 12 selected
universities (Kenya, South Africa and Ghana).
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

18. 18
Table 1: Proposed Sample Size
Country
University
Lecturers
Students
Kenya
4
20x4 =80
200x4=800
South Africa
4
20x4=80
200x4=800
Ghana
4
20x4=80
200x4=800
Total
12
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013
240
2400

19. 19
• Research Instruments:
The research tools will include questionnaires
administered to the students and lecturers, as
well as interviews guides will also be
undertaken across the higher learning
institutions in order to ascertain perceptions
and practices of OER adoption by Lecturers/
tutors and students in Sub-Saharan Africa.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

20. 20
• Analysis:
• Data analysis methods and techniques will include
descriptive and inferential statistical analysis for
the survey data; thematic analysis of the
interviews, focus groups and workshops (where
possible) and content analysis of the OER and
mapping data will be utilized.
• SPSS will be used for the quantitative data
analysis.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

21. 21
Outcome / Impact
• Contribute to the knowledge baseunderstanding of OER for sustainable future in
Sub-Saharan Africa
• Influence educational policy –through the
recommendations for institutional, national
and regional policy
• Inform policy makers about the impact of use
of OER on student performance & staff
development
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

22. 22
• Gender Considerations
Both male & female will be considered in this
study since the survey and most of the
anticipated case studies will deliberately select
both gender to provide opportunities for
understanding whether and how gender
issues might also influence the adoption of
OER in the region and the world over.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

23. 23
• Ethical concerns
-All the participants will be issued with and
information sheet explaining the purpose of
the research and use of the research data. The
participants will also be assured of
confidentiality of the information given and
where appropriate, given an opportunity to
view the questions ahead of an interview or
focus group and be given the opportunity to
validate subsequent transcriptions.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013

24. 24
Thank you for your attention
• Contact: judiambu@gmail.com
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013