By Tony Lelliott
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a philanthropic organisation that funds a variety of initiatives in the United States and across the world in the fields of education, gender equity, governance and climate change. Since 2008, Saide has been fortunate to receive funding for our Open Educational Resources (OER) Africa initiative. OER Africa’s collaboration with higher education institutions across Africa aims to enhance teaching and learning through the development and use of open educational resources.
The Hewlett Foundation regularly gathers grantees for a “convening”, and the 2024 event, held from 1- 3 in Atlanta, Georgia marked the first in-person gathering since the Covid-19 pandemic. Two Saide staff members attended the convening, participating in plenary sessions, group discussions, networking opportunities and learning excursions.
One of the convening highlights was a visit to Georgia State University (GSU) library, where we gained insights into the work being done to advance Open Education. The university hosts a biennial “Open for Student Success” symposium that brings together innovators who study and implement OER in higher education. This event, timed with Open Education Week, has produced a collection of OER recordings and materials that advance the landscape of open knowledge, scholarship, and education[1].
We also participated in a discussion with Hosanna Fletcher, a Professor of Sociology, who described her experiences in designing a course that explores the history and current state of OER. The course includes service-learning activities supported by high-impact teaching practices. This was followed by a ‘hands-on’ activity in which we learnt to identify and make archival material openly available to the public through the university’s digital collections platform. The outing was a valuable learning experience in understanding how the GSU works with OER. We have since followed up with the GSU librarian and plan to participate virtually in the 2025 symposium.
The most interesting plenary presentation was titled, Education is a Public Good: Thriving in a Multiracial Democracy. Over the past two decades, UNESCO has championed the idea that education be considered as a public good – one that benefits not only individuals but society as a whole. This principle is now widely accepted. The presentation underscored that education’s status as a public good is not up for debate; rather, it is a foundational truth. It emphasised how education can play a critical role in uniting diverse communities, especially within the U.S. public school system, where acknowledging and representing students' varied backgrounds is essential to building inclusive, equitable communities. Likewise, one of OER Africa’s goals is to build a Network of institutions that, despite differing local contexts, can collaborate using openly licensed resources to strengthen education.
On the final day, the session on Emerging Technologies facilitated small group discussions on the evolution of technologies and the role artificial intelligence and other advancements can play in building robust, inclusive, and equitable education systems, as well as vibrant democratic societies. Participants shared ideas by posting notes on to a board, including predictions on how technologies might change over the next five years. For example, we discussed how AI might assist with personalising learning, while avoiding the pitfalls of language homogenisation and the influence of large data-set algorithms that could influence learning to the detriment of authenticity and the contexts of learners in the Global South.
The Hewlett Grantee Convening provided a rich environment for facilitating discussions forging new connections with organisations that share similar goals to our own. Since the event ended, we have continued some of those conversations, and we hope they will lead to impactful future actions. Notable networking examples include follow-ups with colleagues from GSE, the Commonwealth of Learning and the UK Open University. We left the convening with valuable insights into how others are using the Open education space and how new technologies are likely to impact on our futures.
[1] https://research.library.gsu.edu/open