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In May 2016 Saide’s OER Africa Team convened representatives from institutions participating in the current OER Africa Institutional Engagement grant as well as identified experts from around the world. The purpose of the Convening was to explore together, the two key themes of pedagogical transformation and participatory action research. Catherine Ngugi, Project Director for OER Africa reflects.
The Convening format comprised a combination of interventions by experts, presentations and reflections on project activities, and plenary/group engagements of different kinds designed to stimulate critical conversation and lead to deeper insights that might then feed back into grant implementation. The Convening also provided institutional partners with time to consolidate lessons learned to date and integrate them into the planning for the remainder of the grant.
Catherine introduced participants to the OER Africa mission and history. Key achievements in the areas of discipline-specific proof of concept pilot projects such as Agshare 1 and Health OER were highlighted to demonstrate the importance of institutional policies that either facilitate or obstruct the systematic use of available resources and technologies that can enhance teaching and learning. The presentation situated OER Africa’s work within the possibilities and challenges of Africa’s higher education space. Catherine concluded that the logic for OER Africa’s current Institutional Engagement Grant is rooted in the need to prepare students in Africa to be active contributors to the global knowledge economy. In this regard, continued reflection on and incremental improvement of the practice of teaching in the digital era is critical.
Why Transform Pedagogy?
The opening key note was given by Prof. Ahmed Bawa of Universities South Africa who spoke on Higher Education in Africa: the Need for Pedagogical Transformation. This rich address explored the in-built conservatism of universities in relation to the ongoing ruptures in societies across the continent. Prof. Bawa reflected on the imperative that education is at the heart of the transformation and a key to challenging social inequality. He noted that if the university in Africa is to successfully tackle the challenges of socio-economic inequality and the need to build more equitable societies, they must address the needs of the students we have – and not those we wish we had. Prof. Bawa thus reminded the Convening that the work of higher education is of critical importance not only to the development of the continent, but to the evolution of the global society as a whole.
What could transformed pedagogy look like?
In his key note: Exploring “Open Pedagogy”, Dr David Wiley of Lumen Learning focused on the importance of students ‘doing things’ as central to effective education and the ways in which open licensing (‘Free Plus the 5R Permissions) enables and supports this kind of active learning. Prof. Wiley provided various practical examples of how openness makes new, more effective pedagogies possible in ways that cannot be achieved without ‘open pedagogy’. These examples demonstrated how a relatively simple concept like open licensing can be harnessed to design and implement creative, engaging learning environments for students that will contribute meaningfully to developing the kinds of ‘21st century skills’ that are increasingly requirements for success after graduation.
How can Action Research inform Pedagogical Transformation?
A leading figure in the field of Action Research, Prof. Pieter du Toit, University of Pretoria introduced participants to a profiling tool and methodology developed at University of Pretoria that helps to characterize different cognitive preferences of individuals. His key note: Action research as innovative means to self-study: A quest for 'thinking out of my box'! illustrated what this demonstrates about the research preferences of different types of students/academics across disciplines. Finally, the presentation explored different understandings of Action Research and Participatory Action Research and their potential value in university research, within the context of the presented profiling tool/methodology.
What have we learned through our Participatory Action Research journey?
Reflections on the OER Africa PAR Agenda to date were provided by Neil Butcher of OER Africa. Drawing from the work of the four participating institutions, Neil observed that there is evidence of growing interest in open licensing and the establishment of supportive policy environments for open licensing. He noted that despite these tangible gains, there is still limited understanding of the concept of OER beyond its ‘champions’. This limited understanding of the efficacy of ‘open’ pedagogies and systems continues to result in several institutional impediments to harnessing OER practices to support pedagogical transformation.
Proceedings and Conclusions
The focus of the current OER Africa is highly exploratory in nature. It comprises a three-year process of deepening the understanding of OER Africa and its partners around how transformed pedagogies can positively impact the student experience in Africa’s universities. OER and improved access to and use of ICTs as tools for teaching and learning, affords numerous and complex opportunities for improved pedagogies. Equally, they provide an opportunity to digitise and embed poor practices and maintain or indeed worsen the status quo.
As noted in the Convening Report, the presentations set a context for a workshop that used a wide range of methods to encourage and stimulate discussion and debate. During the course of the two days, discussions were vibrant, with all participants contributing valuable observations and insights. Many also remarked on the value of a dedicated space to explore issues of common concern. Each institution was also able to generate concrete plans to progress with their engagements with OER Africa.
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