Policy Documents

In May 2011, Pro Vice Chancellor Peter Donkor published this article in the Digital Learning Resources online journal.

The term “open access” refers to resources (often scholarly journal articles) that are freely and publicly accessible to anyone worldwide. Depending the particular terms of use of a given open access journal, the journal may also allow people to copy, modify, or distribute the content of the articles under one of the Creative Commons licenses.

Research (from University of California at Berkeley, University of Toronto, Research Libraries UK, and others) has demonstrated that publishing in open access journals brings increased visibility, usage, and impact to the work of academics, researchers, and students. Open access publishing is compatible with copyright law and with scholarly traditions of peer review, and indexing of articles and citations as indicators of impact and prestige. For example, if an individual uses ideas or words from an open access article, he or she must include the article as a source. Likewise, if using excerpts or direct quotes from an open access article, he or she must designate them with quotation marks and attribution to the original author. There is even an Open Access Search Project in order to detect plagiarism.

This paper investigated the accessibility of Open Educational Resources at The Open University of Tanzania. Specifically, the study looked at staff and students’ level of awareness on the types of OER available at OUT Library, access and use trends of OER by academic staff and students, challenges faced in accessing OER and possible solutions. The study involved one hundred and twenty (120) students and eighty (80) academic staff who were randomly selected. Primary data for this study was collected through self-administered questionnaires. Secondary data was collected through document review. Key findings revealed that staff and students are aware of the OER available at OUT and that the major use of the information found in OER is for self-learning. The major constraint in the use OER was library users’ dependency on librarian assistance in accessing the resources. In addition, other problems encountered by library users when accessing OER were low internet connectivity, unreliable power supply and inadequate number of computers. In view of the fast changing information and ICT environment the study recommends that OUT students and staff should be trained in computer and information literacy skills. Besides, awareness on OER should be created and the ICT bandwidth should be increased to improve access to OER available at The Open University of Tanzania.

Learning challenges within the knowledge society cannot be limited to thetechnological dimension. Leaming and education are embedded in economic, political and cultural contexts. Pedagogies reflect this social  condition.

Consequently we need to situate the pedagogical practices on a wider debate regarding their place in the global system of knowledge production. Some questions are relevant in assessing these practices: What is the sense oflearning in the knowledge society? How this technological paradigm modifies our conception ofleaming and education? How pedagogies are related to technology and the global system of knowledge production? What principles are associated with these proposals? Through a case study of two learning environments, Wikipedia and Google, we compare the two models and the values, principles and competences associated to each of them.

Draws on the experiences of the Vice Chancellor?s Open Educational Resources Adaptation project in the University of Cape Town, which explored whether postgraduate students, with their blend of developing subject knowledge, greater time resources, and experience of teaching artefacts from both a learner?s and educator?s perspective, may be a valuable resource for lecturers or institutions eager to engage in OER but lacking the requisite support structures.

The study applied the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to elicit instructors? intention to adopt and use OER in teaching. The paper also investigated challenges that hinder instructors to adopt and use OER.

Results indicated that OUT staff were willing to engage with OER but had limited awareness, skills and competencies in the creation, integration and use of OER. The outcome of the study was the development of nine draft OER resolutions expressing needs that include the development of a comprehensive institutional OER policy related to existing institutional policies in order to guide, support and promote research and sustainable OER practice via holistic participation.

Two school-based cases are discussed that highlight the role teachers, who take up these pedagogical challenges play in further brokering change in their local institutions; some of the influences that support the process of institutional change are identified and how these are understood and reported to increase access and enhance learning for all pupils.

Examines OER adoption in African higher education institutions

Book reviewed by Kirk Perris, Advisor, Educatation, Commonwealth of Learning.

This paper is the second in a series of three with a common goal to present a fair OER picture for Sub-Saharan Africa, represented by large-scale studies in three countries: Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. This paper examines a deliberate selection of four Ghanaian universities with randomly sampled students and lecturers. Distinct questionnaires for students and the lecturers have been used, which generated a response from in total 818 students and 38 lecturers. The major outcomes based on the empirical data are: (i) there is a significant digital differentiation among lecturers and students at technical versus comprehensive universities in terms of their proficiency and internet accessibility; and (ii) the awareness and appreciation of the OER concept and open licensing is low but from the actual variety and types of processing by respondents of educational resources (not necessarily open) there is a preparedness for openness for the future.

Conventional Higher Education Institutions in Kenya are in the process of implementing eLearning projects. These initiatives are, however, fraught with challenges. At the Maseno University eCampus, an evaluation of statistics on the institutional LMS after two years of implementation revealed that many lecturers had minimal or no log-in statistics, an indication that there was a gap in the adoption of eLearning. This study investigated factors explaining lecturer adoption of eLearning. A sample of 55 lecturers was selected and a questionnaire administered on their personal and institutional support factors for eLearning adoption. The findings revealed that the lecturers had a positive perception of the usefulness of eLearning and high self-efficacy in the adoption of eLearning. The gap in eLearning adoption was perceived by respondents to be a result of inadequate institutional support. The results suggest that lecturers are likely to be better adopters of eLearning not only when knowledge management processes and policies related to eLearning are developed but also where the institution works towards building and supporting a community of eLearning adopters.

This paper seeks to provide an overview of the problem posed by the incorporation of IC into otherwise open educational resources. This paper also describes a number of approaches to resolving this issue, including the reliance on jurisdictional copyright exceptions and limitations, and explores the trade-offs involved in adopting any one of these approaches. It is important to note that we do not know the extent to which the inability to (easily and legally) incorporate IC acts as a barrier to the creation, dissemination and use of OER, or even the extent to which members of the OER community understand and appreciate the legal and practical complexities presented by this issue. Regardless of perception and understanding of these issues, however, the potential risks associated with the use of IC are real, and anecdotal evidence suggests that this risk is having a chilling effect on the creation and use of OER. For these reasons, this paper also suggests areas for empirical research into these issues.

In ?The economic implications of alternative publishing models?, Houghton and
Oppenheim summarise a much longer and more detailed report (Houghton et al.,
2009) published by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in January 2009.
This original report piled assumption on assumption, estimate on estimate, to arrive at
a series of conclusions about the potential economic benefits of open access publishing
which have been widely quoted by proponents of open access, but which are
deeply flawed. This commentary reviews these assumptions and estimates to show
that the conclusions drawn from them about the savings and benefits to be gained from
open access publishing over traditional publishing models are wrong. As the devil is
in the detail, the commentary refers frequently to the original report.

John Houghton and Charles Oppenheim have rebuffed many of the claims made
around the prevalent economic model(s) of academic publishing. They support the
contention that there is much to be gained from a shift to open access dissemination
of scholarly research. While the economic case seems clear, unfortunately this is not
the whole picture; there are other costs and benefits related to the publication of
research that are not economic. Therefore, it is worth complementing their useful analysis
by raising some questions about the manner in which the academy in general has
used traditional methods of publishing to maintain and develop certain community
benefits

Among the many important implications of Houghton et al.?s (2009) timely and illuminating
JISC analysis of the costs and benefits of providing free online access to
peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific journal articles, one stands out as particularly
compelling: It would yield a 40-fold benefit/cost ratio if the world?s peer-reviewed
research were all self-archived by its authors so as to make it OA.

The useful resource clearly explains how knowledge can be classified as a public good. The resource would serve as an appropriate takeoff point for understanding why knowledge should be openly accessible and available to all.

Ideas for CPD interventions
Librarians could use the resource independently or it could be repurposed by the CPD personnel.

This material is a compilation of articles that provide ideas on the adoption of the openness. It is a useful resource for African librarians who may wish to understand the prospects and challenges of adopting open. The CP coordinator could also use the material as an assignment - by asking librarians to add more articles to the compilation.

Librarians can learn pathways on how to migrate digital objects with no loss of content or persistent identifiers, from this article.