Research Reports

Access to relevant learning resources is an important aspect in ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all as outlined in the sustainable development goal 4 (SDG4). The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has identified the development of open educational resources (OER) as a potential answer to these challenges. A total of 29 provincial/regional OER policies and guidelines were developed in Sri Lanka, Botswana, and Cameroon closely involving 608 provincial/regional policymakers from the general education system. The innovation of this project lies in the collaborative approach adopted for OER policy/guideline development where a maximum number of policymakers at the provincial/regional level have been included in the policy development process. Key applications of the approach are mass-sensitization of policymakers, identification of champions in each province or region to drive the OER agenda forward, and the development of policies/guidelines tailored to the specific needs of a particular jurisdiction. The paper will also highlight the success factors, challenges, and the follow-up activities of the project.

This resource includes a list with links to known repositories within the African continent in different countries. Nevertheless, not all the repositories listed are Open. The CPD coordinator can use the determination of which repositories are open in this site as an assignment.

The resource examines the pros and cons of using the Blinkist reading app. 

This resource lists apps used in a library including Libby which can be used on Android, iOS and Windows devices for access to free ebooks in different subject areas. 

This document provides an overview of OER Africa's aims.

The Data-Informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP) aims to improve teaching and learning in mathematics. One way of communicating with teachers has been through a newsletter.This issue deals with learner misconceptions, learner errors in the ICAS tests, teaching with errors and misconceptions, ratio, rate, ratio and proportional reasoning at grades 8, 7 and 9 respectively.

In this edition of the DIPIP Newsletter we have chosen to discuss a section of algebra that confuses many of our learners – that of solving number sentences and equations, which falls into the National Curriculum Statement Learning Outcome 2 (LO2): Patterns, functions and algebra.

In this second part of Volume 2 we focus on the meaning of the word ‘misconceptions’and compare it to the general understanding of the meaning of ‘errors’ and ‘mistakes’. These different words have different concepts associated with them. We tend to use the word ‘misconception’ indiscriminately when talking to colleagues, and more often than not, we are talking about learner errors or mistakes rather than misconceptions.

The Data-Informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP) aims to improve teaching and learning in mathematics. One way of communicating with teachers has been through a newsletter.

In our third issue of the 2009 newsletter we have chosen to talk about how learners work with problems based on space, shape and measurement. We will focus on solving problems in which learners have to work with what they know about areas and perimeters of basic shapes to calculate areas and perimeters of the complex shapes.

This newsletter continues the discussion of the previous newsletter of learners' spatial reasoning, and how to support the development of spatial reasoning in learners.

The current impact study follows on from two earlier evaluations of the project.

A formative evaluation of the Design Phase completed at the end of 2009 focused mainly on OER ‘take-up’ and production in the partner institutions (OER Africa 2009). This evaluation concluded that expectations and contractual targets had been met, or exceeded by an impressive margin, with project coordinators and participants in each partner institution having engaged OER in creative ways that were most appropriate to their own contexts.

The second evaluation, a mid-term evaluation titled ‘Phase 2 Evaluation: Consolidation and Sustainability’ (OER Africa 2011),reinforced the finding that individual and institutional participants in the project had made significant progress in producing OER as well as in developing OER-supportive policy environments. This they had done in their own distinctive ways, in a manner that was consistent with their own ethos, contextual realities, strategies and resources.
This impact evaluation focused more broadly on Network activities, including these four institutions and partnerships that have been formed since project inception in 2008, as well as broader usage of health OER by other users not affiliated with the Network.

The aim of the AgShare Planning and Pilot Project is to create a scalable and sustainable collaboration of existing organizations for African publishing, localizing, and sharing of teaching and learning materials that fill critical resource gaps in African MSc agriculture curriculum.
This Impact Study focussed on assessing AgShare impact on the three layers of the project, namely: teaching and learning, project ‘take up’, and farming practice.

The study focuses on the involvement of the Library as an organizational unit, and of individual librarians and other information science specialists, in open educational resources (OER) initiatives. This research study contributes to the current Open Educational Resources (OER) Programme [http://www.jisc.ac.uk/oer], an initiative by JISC and the HEA whose objective is to promote the creation, dissemination, access and use of OER. This programme represents a firm commitment by UK Higher Education (HE) institutions to the OER movement.

This document is the result of a discussion within the African Teacher Education Network of OER Africa on the status of OER integration into teacher education. It provides some suggests regarding why OER should be integrated into teacher education as well as possible barriers and ways to overcome them. It provides insight into how different institutions in Africa are currently integrating OER into their teacher education programmes.

This case study documents the background, process and outcomes of a collaboration between Mkwawa University College of Education, the University of Dar-es-Salaam and OER Africa in the period 2011 to 2014.

This report, based on a desktop review, unpacks the possibilities of opennes in African higher education, launching the discussion with a presentation and explanation of the concepts and icons associated with various tenets of open practice. The discussion then moves on to explore the factors leading to the rise of openness, including a social inclination towards opennes, government involvement, and technological innovations that have encouraged and facilitated openness. Global and regional trends in openness in higher education are highlighted in the context of the core business of universities: teaching and learning, research and community engagement. Concerns over quality in open practice are raised and discussed. Given its importance, especially in relation to African economic development, the important role of higher education in research, development, and innnovation is given special attention, covering aspects of supply and demand, and university-industry partnerships - their nature, enablers to partnership, open innovation, and barriers to such partnerships. The report concludes with an outline of recommendations on how African universities can reinvent themselves through making certain changes that will enable them to be more relevant and responsive to 21st century skills demands and ultimately to serve their communities more effectively and efficiently.

The study discusses the challenges of open educational resources and in doing so makes a comparative analysis between Shanghai Open University and the Open University of Tanzania. The study uses descriptive survey research design to examine the challenges of open educational researches and hence make a comparative analysis between Shanghai Open University and the open university of Tanzania. 

This report outlines the process and outcomes of a 4th visit to explore how to mainstream engagement with OER to support the increasing demand for flexible higher learning opportunities at Africa Nazarene University using a participatory action research approach.