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

Definition

Open Education Learning (OEL) is described as the whole set of practices around the creation, use, and management of OER, according to the OPAL (2010) report. This includes any supporting tools, as well as the resources themselves and any enabling frameworks. OEP includes practically all stakeholders involved in supporting and managing learning provision in educational systems, and it encompasses the complete spectrum of policy, research, and practice around OER. The OEP addresses the whole OER governance community, including policymakers, organizational managers/administrators, educational professionals, and learners.

Open Educational Practices (OEP) are practices that support the (re)use and production of OER through institutional policies, promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers of their lifelong learning paths, according to Camilleri, Ehlers, and Pawlowski (2014).

Characteristics of OER

• They go beyond access into open learning architectures and seek ways to use OER for transforming learning
• They focus on learning as a construction of knowledge assets, which they share with others and receive feedback and reviews
• They follow the notion of improving quality through external validation because of the importance of sharing research findings.

History

Kenya's dedication to ICT integration and application in education. Working with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as well as other educational organizations such as the Teacher Service Commission and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development on the design of Open Educational Resources and ICT integration in education, UNESCO and COL, in particular, have played and continue to play an important role. Kenya is a signatory to the OER Paris Declaration, which guides the work of both UNESCO and COL. The first Kenyan Government policy to address OEL in higher education was the Act of Parliament of 1966, which established the Board of Adult Education. OEL 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 OEL 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, OEL 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 OEL 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 OEL 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: OEL 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 OEL also has limitations which include;

• Regulations on Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright: Intellectual property rights (IPR) and copyright restrictions, which require the consent of IPR owners for their works to be publicly available, are one of the problems related with OER integration in Kenya.
• 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.
• Level of Knowledge and Skills: According to studies by Ochukut (2013), Gakindi (2010), and Ngimwa & Wilson, the level of knowledge and skills in Kenya related OER is still poor (2012). Some people were also using OER resources without realizing it. Furthermore, people's readiness to participate in and consume OER content was shown to be hampered by a lack of computer literacy. Some senior academics, for example, who are computer illiterate, may be hesitant to participate in technology-related projects.
• Existing OEP Policies and Strategies: OEP policies and strategies define the rules and regulations that govern OEP implementation across an organization. OEP strategies and policies are weak or not fully developed at both the national and institutional levels, according to certain studies on OER in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ochukut, 2013; Gakindi, 2010; Ngimwa and Wilson, 2012). For example, according to a case study of Africa Nazarene University, the university has a policy and procedure structure, but it is not yet fully matched to OER and ODeL. (Ooko & Mays, 2015).
• 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.
• OER Funding: 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. Financial sustainability is necessary for successful OER implementation in Kenya because relying on money is a short-term solution and a weak motivation for participating in OER. According to Ochukut (2013), some colleges in Kenya, such as UON, may not have additional resources to allocate to OER, which may hinder OER implementation.
• 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.

Resources for Further Reading

• Benefits of E-learning, WorldWideLearn

URL:http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-essentials/elearningbenefits. htm Accessed 19th December 2015

• Mobbs R (2003). Disadvantages of E-learning, What is e-learning

https://www.le.ac.uk/users/rjm1/etutor/elearning/disadvofelearning.html Accessed 19th December 2015

• Optimus Solutions. The Advantages and Disadvantages or eLearning

http://www.optimussourcing.com/learninghintsandtips/the-advantages-anddisadvantages- of-elearning Accessed 19th December 2015

Different Types of OER

Kenya has various International and Regional OERs ; Teacher education, agriculture, secondary education, and non-formal education. Among them ; the OER Africa initiative, the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA )program, and the African Virtual University (AVU) teacher education OER modules and repository

The African Virtual University (AVU)

AVU is a pan-African intergovernmental organization founded in 1997 with the goal of considerably increasing access to high-quality higher education and training via the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT). The AVU has a regional office in Senegal and its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya. The African Virtual University (AVU) has built the largest distance and eLearning network in Sub-Saharan Africa, serving over 27 countries and graduating over 40,000 students. It contains 219 open educational modules in English, French, and Portuguese, spanning from mathematics and science to teacher education and ICT skills. The AVU's interactive portal is used in 142 countries outside of Africa, with the majority of visitors coming from Brazil and the United States. AVU continues to earn international prominence by providing thousands of Africans with access to high-quality education.

TESSA (Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa)

TESAA is a network of teachers and teacher educators collaborating with the Open University in the United Kingdom to increase the quality of classroom practice and access to teacher education resources throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It accomplishes this by providing a variety of Open Educational Resources (OER) to promote teacher education in schools. It's a global collaboration that includes the BBC World Service Trust, the Commonwealth of Learning, and the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), but it focuses on teacher education requirements in nine African countries (Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) The program began with thirteen African universities as founding members, with ambitions to expand to additional nations and institutions in the future. The TESSA OER consists of 75 study modules in Science, Literacy, Mathematics, Social Studies and the Arts, and Life skills (Wolfenden et al. 2010), and is available in four languages. The State of Open Educational Resources in Kenya Right Now (Arabic, English, French and Kiswahili) The uniqueness of the TESSA OER program is in that it is targets teachers and places the end user, the teacher educator, at the core of the initiative. The great majority of OER were developed in collaboration by teacher educators from all around Africa (over 100 authors have been involved). Both the contents and the portal were developed after considerable consultation with possible user groups, and they were based on local knowledge, materials, and approaches.

Open Educational Resources (OER) Africa

Another initiative centered in Nairobi, Kenya is OER Africa. The South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) launched the effort to promote the development and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) across all educational sectors on the African continent. The idea of OER Africa is that it will make it easier to gather information and human expertise to create knowledge – an activity that may be done individually or collaboratively. OER Africa holds the premise that it will make it easier to gather information and human expertise to create knowledge – an activity that may be done individually or collaboratively. The initiative's relationships and programs with African institutions of higher education are generally, but not entirely, focused on the theme areas of teacher education, academic skills for higher education, agricultural, and health education, according to the initiative. Overall, the goal of OER Africa is to ensure that the power of OER is utilized by Africans for Africans through fostering collaborative efforts.

The School of Open Africa initiative

The School of Open Africa initiative is a global volunteer community coordinated by Creative Commons (CC) and the Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) - a peer learning community for producing and running free online courses — based on three key ideals and principles:

• openness -guarantees that everyone can engage, that information is freely available and useable, that the model and technology allow for experimentation and continuous development, and that processes are responsible to the community.
• Community — The initiative's governance is built on a community-centric model in which volunteers drive all elements of the project and members talk and behave with civility, tolerance, and respect for other individuals, beliefs, and viewpoints.
• Peer learning — Everyone is both a teacher and a learner. The School of Open Africa is motivated by the theory and belief that open material, tools, and processes may substantially increase access to and involvement in research, education, technology, and culture. The program promotes peer learning on what "open" means and how to use open content, technologies, and procedures through self-organized courses that leverage existing "open" learning materials

As a result, School of Open Africa courses and resources are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike or other open license.

Commonwealth of Learning in Kenya

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), in collaboration with a number of Kenyan TVET institutions (Coast Institute of Technology, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Masai Technical Training Institute, Mombasa Technical Training Institute, Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, and Thika Technical Training Institute), developed a number of non-formal community training courses under the Innovation in Vocational Education and Skills Training (INVEST Africa) Program of the Commonwealth of Learning. The courses can be downloaded from the COL’s Open Access Institutional Repository.

OER Initiatives in Kenyan Universities

Most Kenyan higher institutions are engaging in innovative learning programs that strive to capitalize on ICT breakthroughs. A considerable number of universities now offer open, distance, and e-learning courses. Similarly, virtually all major Kenyan institutions maintain trustworthy online archives of their research and teaching materials, albeit with varied degrees of IPR protection with certain resources being open access. A summary of a handful of these universities is provided below

African Nazarene University

The ANU Institute of Open and Distance Learning (IODL) was founded in 2011 to help mature and self-motivated learners, often those already in the workforce, pursue their studies without the limitations of full-time attendance at campus-based lectures (Ooko & Mays, 2015).The ANU IODL implements CAMS (an academic management system) and Moodle (a learning management system customized for ANU as "ENAZ") to allow distant learners to register for tutorials, discussions, and continuous assessment procedures online. Most students are opting for non-traditional learning options such as evening programs, school-based learning, and online learning.

Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER)

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