1. 1
Modelling Openness in Prof Dev:
Case Study of developing the
Digital Fluency course at
Open University of Tanzania.
Brenda Mallinson, OER Africa
8th March 2017.

2. 2
 Collaborative agenda with 4 selected HEIs
1. build a deepened understanding of how OER
practices can support transformation of T&L
2. ensure that such accumulated understanding
is widely shared and incorporated into policy
and advocacy
http://www.oerafrica.org
OER Africa current work

3. 3
Goals: (Aug 2014 - July 2017)
• A comprehensive OER policy initiated that references /
augments existing related institutional policies. √
• A Digital Fluency Course for Academics (comprising five
modules) to be designed, developed, mounted online, and
piloted. √(nearly)
• Convert existing OUT courses to OER. √ (ongoing)
• OER repository established for OUT & other OERs √
• Research Agenda defined and active √ (ongoing)
Open University of Tanzania

4. 4
Digital Fluency Course Objectives
Reuse / develop relevant OER for Guidance / Capacity
Development for Academic Staff
• Advancing general digital competencies
• Developing specific competencies in a range of identified areas
In order to facilitate:
• Improved pedagogical practices
• Enhancement of blended and online teaching and learning
• Promotion of student engagement and interaction in the Distance
Education context
• Guidance to students to access and use supplementary materials
• Efficiencies in working with the new OUT administrative paperless
environment
You must be the change you wish to see
in the world – Mahatma Gandhi

5. 5
Wider OER OUT Support
community
Senior Management
Creative Commons
Quality Assurance
Open Directorate
Repositories
OER Team
OUT
needs
OUT
IEMT
support
OER
Africa
support
OUT
Library
services
Digital Fluency course for
Academic Staff (ODF 001)

6. 6
Modelling openness with respect to:
Reviewing
Design
Process
Materials
development
Pedagogical
Approach
Online
Provision
Licensing for
Publication
Openly
Accessible
7Cs of Learning Design, Univ Leicester
Use existing OER, where possible
Use OSS - Moodle
Creative Commons
OUT Open Repository
Reviews
Internal @ OUT
Tanzania HEIs
SSA - ACDE
Student centred, active

7. 7
5 Digital Fluency Modules (+1?)
Mod 1
• Digital Fundamentals
Mod 2
• Working with OER
Mod 3
• Learning Design & Development for Online Provision
Mod 4
• Academic Integrity in a Digital Age
Mod 5
• Storage & Access of Digital Resources
Mod 6?
• Facilitating Online Learning (Saide existing OER)

8. 8
Module Name Identified Sub-topics
1. Digital Fundamentals  Basic Computing concepts and operations
 Digital Resource Editing
 Internet Fundamentals
 Virtual Learning Environments
 Multimedia Fundamentals
2. Working with OERs  OER Concepts
 Creative Commons Licensing
 Mixing, Adapting and Reusing OER
 OER Production
3. Learning Design and
Development for Online / Blended
Provision
 Models, frameworks and processes
 Designing for learning
 Digital development
 Modes of provision
 Basic learning analytics
4. Academic Integrity in a Digital
Age
 Introduction to academic Integrity
 Intellectual property
 Promoting academic integrity
 Data and information privacy
5. Storage and Access of Digital
Resources
 The nature of digital resources
 Storage of digital resources
 Access to digital resources
 Content management systems

9. 9
2013
• OER
workshop
• Digital
Fluency
course
conceptualis
ed
• Learning
Design
Workshop
2014
• Roles
assigned
• Course &
modules
framework
developed -
2 formats
• Materials
development
Initiated
• Facilitating
Online
Learning –
capacity
building
course
• Internal OUT
content
reviews
2015
• Module
revisions
• Language
reviews
• Module
revisions
• QA Reviews
• Module
Revisions
• Pedagogical
Review
• Module
revisions
• Technology
Alignment
Reviews
• Module
Revisions
2016
• Copyright
Clearance
reviews
• Module
Revisions
• Mount
modules on
Moodle
• Pilot
modules
sequentially
• Evaluation
• Module
Revisions
2017
• Final pilot
modules
• Evaluation
• Module
Revisions
• Copy editing
of text
version
• Copy
changes to
Moodle
• CC Licenses
• Publish as
OER in 2
formats: text
and Moodle
backups
• Mount in
OUT Open
Repository
Highly Iterative Process …

10. 10
• 7Cs of Learning Design Toolkit (Univ. Leicester)
• Detailed activity structure template (.doc)
• Module development tracker (.xls)
• Pedagogy - Technology alignment tracker (.xls)
• Landing page & layering guidelines (LMS)
• Copyright clearance guidelines
• Online course evaluation instrument (Saide)
Supplementary
Development Artefacts

11. • Demographics
– 9/10 had less than 10 years HE teaching experience (2 had none)
– 9/10 had previously participated in an online course as lecturer or student;
and 8/10 deemed this prior experience essential
• Extent to which they believed DF modules contributed towards
the OER Africa value statements?
– Ranged from 90% to 100%
• Level of support received from:
– IEMT team, OER Africa, OUT institutional
– Rated by 9/10 as good to considerable
• Activities mostly employed in modules
– Assimilative, communication, experiential
• All respondents reported they were conscious of
implementing new learning approaches and practices
Reflections from Module developers (1)

12. • Successes / Enjoyed
– Training participants from other HEIs
– Interesting – look forward to making improvements
– Improved knowledge of finding and using OERs
– Improved collaboration between learners & facilitators
• Challenges
– Participation declined as pilot progressed
– Facilitation skills need to be developed
• Important aspects
– Support from course manager
– Reliable availability of Internet
– Flexible access
– Incorporate more multimedia to enhance the modules
– Relevant - should be compulsory for all new staff at OUT
Reflections from Module developers (2)

13. Enabling environment:
• OUT as an Open & Distance HEI
– Move to openness was embraced
– Willingness to institutionalise / integrate OER
– OSS LMS already being used
– Embraced all capacity building
• Senior Management
– Collaboratively defined project goals
– Fully supported all proposed activities
– Interested in regular progress reports
• OER Team established
– Potential for sustainability
• Module Developers
– Keen to develop new skills and knowledge
What OER Africa Learned (1)
13319234--Stock-Vector

14. Inhibitors:
• Embraced pedagogical change in theory
– BUT difficult to effect in practice
– Old correspondence mode of delivery deeply entrenched
– More substantial support for change needed over time
• Prolonged design & development time
– Hard to sustain interest over time
– Constant reminders / reinforcement needed
• Staff challenges
– Time constraints to engage outside regular duties
– Developer secondments disrupted flow of work
– National & Institutional pressures
What OER Africa Learned (2)

15. 15
Current Status of DF Modules
 Modules 1, 2, 3, and 4 Piloted
 Module 5 pilot starting on 6h march
 Responding to evaluation & feedback
 Final copy editing to begin
By mid 2017:
 Publication of revised modules as OER in at least 2 formats under CC
license.
 Share development tools
 Provide a professional development course for African academics to
enhance Teaching and Learning
 Encourage further OER use by African institutions
 Accessed through OUT Open Institutional Repository
OER will be reused if they are deemed to be contextually
relevant

16. 16
How did we fair in aspects of openness?
Reviewing
Design
Process
Materials
development
Pedagogical
Approach
Online
Provision
Licensing for
Publication
Openly
Accessible
Open focus needed continuous
reinforcement
More training on searching for OER
Moodle already being used
CC BY achieved
OUT Open Repository
established
Reviews
(Too) many iterations
needed
Concentrated effort
required

17. • Increased Integration of OER in QA processes at OUT
• Study Materials development being redesigned for OER
– Learning Materials Development Policy (new name) currently under
revision
– Materials Developers Workshop & Guidelines Booklet under revision
– New OER Policy states that all new OUT courses developed should
be OER
– Converting to OER materials used as criteria for promotion in
assessing teaching effectiveness (scheme of service of OUT, 2016)
• Continued Institutional support
– To move from OER ‘projects’ to institutionalisation
– OER Policy Implementation Plan formulated
Going Forward …

18. 18
Thank you!
brendam@saide.org.za
http://www.slideshare.net/brenda6
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.