Understanding the Impact of OER – new publication released

Saide’s OER Africa together with UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education have over the last couple of years worked on a collective research project to gather information on some of the significant achievements as well as key challenges hindering the growth and potential of  the impact of OER on education systems. The findings comprise a synthesis report and a series of case studies from several countries in each of the five UNESCO regions.

A two-pronged approach was adopted in gathering data for the publication: a desktop research exercise and development of a series of country case studies (based on a common questionnaire) prepared with input from OER experts from 15 countries. Three case studies were conducted in Africa, namely, in Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. All case studies included input on the use of OER in the higher education sector, with some focus on basic and secondary education and informal/lifelong learning.

Summary of Findings

  • There is a tendancy to conflate OER with other open initiatives, most commonly Open Access and ‘free’ or ‘freely-available’ initiatives.
  • The lack of knowledge about OER and copyright plays a major role in limiting OER growth and calls for more dissemination of knowledge about OER, and in particular to highlight the right to reuse content.
  • Several countries have developed national OER policies such as Brazil and Nigeria, however, policy is not a priority for all countries. Some countries, particularly in the developed world, have no national OER policies, but have supportive environments and contexts with funding provided for OER initiatives.
  • Countries and educational institutions have their own reasons for initiating OER projects, with context playing a major role when considering whether and how OER are adopted. Data collected suggests little evidence of wide acceptance or systemic integration of OER.
  • Data gathered in this research suggest that the extent to which respondents report a balance between OER reuse and creating new materials tends to depend on levels of OER activity in the country.
  • Historically, the funding of OER activities came from donor organizations who still play a significant role, but increasingly, governments are supporting the financing and sustainability of OER projects.
  • A significant issue still impacting on the inclusivity of OER is that access to computers and the Internet continue to be a major challenge.
  • Data from this research confirms that most OER are produced in ‘world languages’ such as English, Spanish, Chinese, and French.
  • In contexts where there is much OER activity, there concomitantly appears to be more rigorous research activity evaluating educational impact and effectiveness of OER.

In conclusion there have been many efforts made to promote the OER movement with some remarkable achievements over the past 20 years as awareness has grown and initiatives have developed. However, this research suggests that OER use, funding and support appears to remain for the most part on the margins in education systems.

Click here to access the full publication.