1. 1
OER Africa
Utilising Open Educational Resources in support
of curriculum transformation at Africa
Nazarene University
Tony Mays

2. Education is the
most powerful
weapon which you
can use to change
the world.
Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013)
Nobel Laureate, 1993

3. Overview
Context
Theoretical framework
Methodology x2
Questions, findings, recommendations

4. CONTEXT
Utilising OER at ANU

5. Context
1. OER Africa has facilitated engagement with OER in
Africa since 2008
2. Currently it is engaged intensively with four
institutions: OUT, UFS, UP and ANU
3. ANU has experienced increased demand for non-
traditional, non-campus-based provision
4. MoU, D. study
5. Duration of engagement 2013 to date
6. Duration of study <2015-2016>

6. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Utilising OER at ANU

7. Theoretical framework
Ontology Determinist X Non-determinist
Epistemology Idealist X Realist
Positivist X Interpretivist
Education paradigm Transmission Transaction X Transformation Transcendence
Educational meta-
theories
Logical Empiricism
Critical rationalism x
Systems theory X
Phenomenology x
Hermeneutics X
Critical theory x
Existentialism/
African philosophy x/
Feminism/
Post modernism x
Nihilism
Pedagogical choices Particular limited uses of
behaviourist / associationist
theory; learning as
purposeful and linked to
outcomes statements
providing these are open to
change; belief in connecting
ideas in increasingly
complex ways – from
concrete to abstract, from
known to unknown
Practice informed primarily by cognitive and social
constructivist approaches seeking to work towards
consensus understandings that allow teams of
people to work together towards agreed common
goals in communities of learning and practice.
While encouraging
groups to work towards
consensus
understandings and
work plans, there is
need to create some
dissonance to challenge
uncritical group think;
agree that technology
opens new possibilities
for learning; believe
learning should be
activity-based.

8. METHODOLOGY X2
Utilsing OER at ANU

9. Project methodology

10. Study methodology
• Lead participant
– Interpretivist
• Ethnography
– Autoethnography
» Analytic autoethnography – self, setting, others> theory
• Data sources
– Documents: existing internal, existing external, created in process
– Workshops: 4 + 3
– FGDs: 10 + 10
– IIs: 6 + 10
– OER maturity analysis and planning tool x2
– 5 Kenya visits and 1 SA study visit
• Analysis and review: iterative reports and chapters

11. QUESTIONS, FINDINGS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Utilising OER at ANU

12. Questions
• What conditions are necessary for successfully mainstreaming the use of OER in support of
curricular and pedagogic transformation in a mixed mode higher education institution such
as Africa Nazarene University?
– What kinds of pedagogical transformation are envisaged at ANU and within what
timeframes are these changes expected to be introduced? How does this align with the
OER community’s understanding of the transformative educational potential of OER?
– To what extent can use of OER constitute an effective catalyst in driving or supporting
these envisaged pedagogical changes?
– In what ways can a focus on pedagogical transformation serve to embed effective OER
practices into mainstream institutional activities and systems, rather than these
practices operating parallel to the mainstream?
– What opportunities already exist within ANU that can be used to drive this kind of
pedagogical transformation and how can these opportunities most effectively be
harnessed?
– What policy, procedural, systemic, cultural, and logistical challenges and barriers inhibit
these changes within ANU?
– What strategies need to be implemented to overcome these challenges?
– What levels of institutional political support or championing are needed for changes
made to become institutionalized?

13. Findings
• Institutional environment for and against
• IODL (cross-cutting board but isolated in practice)
• Willingness to engage but issues relating to DE model
and part-timers
• Business model?
• OER/IPR Policy, HR Policy, QA, ICT Policy
• Changing demand (competition, ICT, cost)
• Move to resource-based learning: CAMS/Enaz?
• Strategic leadership?

14. Recommendations
• Strategic plan 2017+
• National voice in policy and regulation
• Resource- and activity-based learning with
varying levels of additional support (and cost)
• Business model (market analysis, needs
analysis, differentiated programmes and
budgets, development/implementation and
review/teach-out, data analytics)
• Focus on quality rather than breadth

15. Open ecology
OER
ODeL
OEP
Vision and
mission

16. Integrated modelling

17. OER for Africa… and the world
OER show-cases African intellectual capital
– allowing us our rightful participation as
contributors to the global knowledge
economy.

18. “Education is a human right
with immense power to
transform. On its foundation
rest the cornerstones of
freedom, democracy and
sustainable human
development.”
Kofi Anan
Nobel Laureate, 2001

19. tony.mays@up.ac.za
Mays, T.J. 2017. Utilising Open Educational Resources in
support of curriculum transformation at Africa Nazarene University: a participatory action
research approach, Open Education Global Conference 2017, CTICC.
Johannesburg: Saide/OER Africa/UP
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
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