User:Sarah

Biography

Sarah Museng'ya is an assiduous educationist and humanitarian with a strong passion for leading interventions that improve both access, inclusive quality education and holistic lifelong education for marginalized children especially in fragile contexts. She has over 9 years of experience in the nonprofit sector managing arrange of education projects: both in development and emergencies.

Cognizant that expanding digital solutions in refugee settings has a transformative impact on individuals and communities, and the COVID-19 pandemic introduces an opportunity to leverage this moment towards improving equitable access. I have a firm belief that the future of Africa and the world in general is in digital literacy.

I am passionate about education, girl child empowerment and have a knack for monitoring and Evaluation. I am very enthusiastic about sharing knowledge and skills.

Module 4: Open Education

Learning outcomes

• Understand Open learning education; history, benefits and limitations
• Explore the different types of OER, creation and software for OER creation
• OER creation

Time: 24 Hours Description:

Three steps will be undertaken in this project

1. Introducing the project: defining objectives, outlining target and activities, explaining resources available for further reading
2. Review and reflect on the different types of OER, creation and software’s
3. Create and share own OER

Open Learning Education

History

The first Kenyan Government policy to address ODeL (Open Distance education Learning )in higher education was the Act of Parliament of 1966, which established the Board of Adult Education. ODeL has been promoted as an alternate method of education by a number of commissions and investigations since independence. Session Paper No. 1 of 2005 (Republic of Kenya, 2005) advocates the formation of an open university and the use of ODeL in human resource development at all levels, according to the most recent government effort. Kenya has seen a fast increase of higher education institutions in recent decades. This might be linked to an increase in demand for higher education, which is partly due to improved knowledge of the educational benefits (Khan, 2001). As a result of the rising demand, ODeL has quickly become an acknowledged and important part of mainstream educational platforms in both developed and developing countries, with a focus on the latter (UNESCO, 2002). The popularity of distant learning has grown as a result of several causes. One such aspect is family obligations, particularly among women. In terms of time and resources, women, particularly in Kenya, face a variety of challenges that males do not. However, the introduction of ODeL has expanded women's options and made education and training more accessible to them because they may now study from the comfort of their own homes. It enables individuals to learn at their own pace and seek out and acquire skills for personal development while also taking care of their families (Brunner, 1991). Technological, cultural, and social revolutions have impacted us, profoundly altering how we live, work, and study (Wheeler, 2000; Edwards, 1997). Even the most solid of our social institutions, such as education, have been overwhelmed by accelerating change, and the rate of change will undoubtedly rise in the years ahead. African countries continue to face internal conflicts as well as regional interstate battles caused by religious, ethnic, economic, or political disagreements. The number of migrants and persons who are homeless or displaced has risen dramatically, demanding more flexible schooling options. The adaptability of open, distant, and e-learning approaches has aided their ascension as the major mode of lifelong learning.

Benefits

• Convenience: E-learning materials are stored on the learner's computer and accessed at any time. They do not necessitate the presence of the learner in a classroom. The system also allows students to download and save learning materials for later use.
• Cost Effectiveness: students can choose from a large range of courses and make the selection depending on their needs.
• Up-to-date learning materials: study materials in ODeL systems are updated more frequently than in the classroom-based education systems. Once the study materials are placed in the system, they can be updated without changing the whole materials and the materials can be available and reused for longer times.
• Flexibility: ODeL is a flexible way of learning for many students. Most of the study materials are stored for the students to access whenever they want. Students can also choose between an instructor-led and a self-learning system. It is also possible for students to skip over the study materials they already know and choose the ones they want to learn.
• Global learning : E-learning technologies contribute to the creation of a global learning society by allowing anybody to access study resources regardless of their physical location. Learners may now contribute to study materials using the mechanisms that are now accessible, which helps to keep the contents up to date.
• Scalability: The number of students in virtual classrooms or e-learning systems can be extremely small or very large without affecting the overall cost.
• Better retention: E-video learning's and audio assets make the learning experience more enjoyable. They assist students in remembering information for a long time and can also be accessed at any time, allowing for greater retention through repetition.

Limitations

As any other systems ODeL also has limitations which include;

• Low motivation: Because there is no one to supervise them, students with low motivation are more likely to fail to meet their goals. Students are in charge of the course's routine and organization, which might lead to lethargy and low motivation at times and thus may drop out of the course early due to a lack of a set schedule and deadlines.
• Compatibility issues: Because there are so many different learning systems, study materials created with one system may not be compatible with another. Mobile devices, such as iPads, for example, prevent flash videos from being played in their browsers. There are some limits to the amount of websites that may be viewed, therefore access to websites may not be free everywhere.
• Unreliable Content: The content available on the Internet is not necessarily dependable. There are publishers that intentionally mislead readers and provide incorrect information. As a result, readers must exercise caution while looking for information and ensure that the content is reliable before studying it.
• Social Isolation: Lack of a genuine/real classroom or classmates may cause social isolation for certain students . The lack of real people surrounding them while learning, students may feel socially isolated at times.
• Expense management: While e-learning is typically a less expensive alternative in the long term, it may be prohibitively expensive for some institutions at initially. For new or small institutions, purchasing new equipment such as computers, projectors, or software all at once may be difficult. In addition, compared to traditional approaches, the expense of generating training materials is significant.
• Students with disabilities. Companies frequently target broad user groups when developing new learning products or study settings. They may not always consider disabled students, such as those who are Visually Impaired, because the development costs may be prohibitive.
• Not all effective: Because e-learning does not allow for two-way communication, face-to-face study materials may be more successful in some circumstances.

Activity	Duration	Date	Product/Output
Introducing the project: defining objectives, outlining target audience and activities, explaining resources available for further reading	3hours	5-8 of May 2022	Project Defined
interact with education practitioners and understand the different types of OER, how to create and different software available for OER creation in Kenyan context	9hours	8-11 May 2022	Project chosen
Practice creation of OER using different modalities	12hours	11-15 May 2022	Publish own OER