We attended eLearning Africa in Accra, Ghana. The event creates a space for those interested in, working on or touched by ICT for development, specifically in Africa, to come together and share ideas, experiences and resources.

The first public presentation of Siyavula took place here and was featured in the eLearning Africa newsletter. The project was well received and a number of partners were identified, specifically some award-winning South African teachers who were very supportive and keen to get involved.

Our engagement with other initiatives prompted us to ask who should make OERs and think more about the context in which these OERs are created.

We were happy to hear a number of our projects mentioned by independent presenters as key initiatives in the OER and Open Access space, including OpeningScholarship and Rip-Mix-Learn. We are pleased that news about these initiatives are virally making their way through this space and we look forward to making the formal results available as the initial phases come to and end in July.

While in Accra we also participated in the University of Michigan OER Health Workshop. It was very interesting to be in a room with academics from across the world who had on the one hand immense experience in developing and disseminating OERs and open course ware (OCW), and on the other hand is just starting to explore this area. It was great to see how experiences and learning and visions were shared. We’re looking forward to the next stage of firming up next steps for collaboration.
An opinion piece co-written by Mark Horner, Siyavula project manager and FHSST founder, was published in Physics World, the official magazine of the Institute of Physics. The initiative gained the interest of the Physics community as it was started by a group of Physicist in training and initially focused on Natural Sciences. The article has already triggered a number of very positive responses, varying from people wishing the project well to others volunteering to help. The idea clearly resonates with academics and scientists alike.

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