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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.
What we do in this area:
“Teachers, learners and authors around the world are increasingly seeing the potential of open educational resources. As part of a broader movement to open up education, these resources can increase access to learning opportunities and encourage more collaborative, student-centric learning. The Shuttleworth Foundation works closely with the innovators and activists who are bringing this movement to life.”
This month’s highlights:
Mark Horner’s (Siyavula Project Manager) proposal for a presentation on Open and Collaborative Resources has been accepted for eLearning Africa. He will be presenting at the event in Ghana in May. The excerpt is not on the website yet, but will be shortly. He will be specifically talking about the project, what we have learnt so far and how Open Educational Resources (OER’s) are used in South Africa.
Mark Horner met with representatives of Indigo+ng from South Korea and is invited to attend their annual working session in South Korea in September. At this event they bring together 6 projects from across the world who have succeeded in inspiring, engaging and mobilising the youth in education. Indigo+ng is an organisation focused on youth development towards critical engagement and embracing education and learning. They travelled to South Africa specifically to meet with Mark based on his work on the Free High School Science Texts (FHSST) and Siyavula.
FHSST has received good feedback from tutoring initiatives finding their materials online and using them in their outreach programmes. It is clear that there is a huge need for OER’s that can be accessed and redistributed freely in a decentralised manner. Many students still have not received their text books, even though the 1st term is almost over. The viral adoption of the materials is encouraging for both the FHSST and Siyavula initiatives.
Press related to the Cape Town Open Education Declaration has lead to a large influx of enquiries, proposals and offers of support for our OCR initiatives. It’s encouraging and enlightening to engage with so many individuals and organisations who are in desperate need of educational resources or who have resources to offer. Whilst most of the offers of resources have been with profit motives in mind, it allows us to have the open licensing and open resources conversation with a much wider audience, potentially increasing our impact in this area.
