Presentation by Ted Hanss given at the University of Cape Town in South Africa on July 27, 2012.... PPT available for download at http://open.umich.edu/sites/default/files/20120727hanss-uct-healthoer.ppt Presentation CC BY Regents of the University of Michigan.

1. Collaborative Development
in Health Sciences
African Health OER Network Case Study
Ted Hanss
University of Michigan
University of Cape Town
Faculty of Health Sciences
27 July 2012
Copyright 2012 The University of Michigan. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the Creative
#1 Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/>.

2. Agenda
• Motivation: Health Challenges
• Response: African Health OER Network
– What is OER and what are its benefits?
– History of the Network
– Impact of the Network
• OER Examples
#2

3. Motivation: Health Challenges
#3

4. Health Challenges
The inadequate density and distribution of
healthcare providers negatively affects health
outcomes around the globe. This is especially
true in Sub-Saharan Africa.
#4

5. Source: World Health Organization. Working Together for Health: The World Health Report 2006. WHO Publications:
Geneva. 2006.
#5

6. Source: World Health Organization. Working Together for Health: The World Health Report 2006. WHO Publications: Geneva. 2006.
#6

7. Millennium Development Goals
• Reduce child mortality
– Drop the under-five rate by two thirds
• Improve maternal health
– Reduce maternal mortality by three quarters
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other
diseases
– Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the
incidence of the others
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
#7

8. Human Resources for Health
• Any long-term solution to the global health
crisis requires investment in human
resources.
• Only well-trained health providers can
ensure:
– Achievement of the UN’s Millennium Development
Goals,
– Implementation of global vaccination and medication
distribution, and
– Preparation for the next epidemic
#8

9. Education
Challenges
• Low budgets, small
workforce, high
disease burden
• Scarce, aging, and
Image CC:BY-NC University of Ghana
emigrating teaching
Crowded clinical
staff
settings
• Insufficient
classroom spaces
#9

10. When you look in
textbooks it’s difficult to
find African cases. The
cases may be pretty
similar but sometimes it
can be confusing when
you see something that
you see on white skin so
nicely and very easy to
pick up, but on the dark
skin it has a different
manifestation that may be
difficult to see.
-Richard Phillips, lecturer,
Department of Internal
Image CC:BY-NC-SA Kwame Nkrumah
Medicine, KNUST (Ghana) University of Science and Technology
#10

11. Response: African Health
OER Network
#11

12. Free access to online articles,
data, knowledge and information
for the public good.
Open Access
Educational materials and
resources offered via a license
allowing anyone to use, adapt,
and re-distribute.
#12

13. Benefits of OER to the University
• Share expertise and curricula with other
institutions
• Recruit students
• Decrease duplication, increase efficiency
• Increase university’s reputation globally
#13

14. Benefits of OER to the Faculty
• Recognition for their teaching
• Publish and promote their resources
• Connect with other collaborators
• Extend their reach and visibility
#14

15. U of Ghana Faculty Perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KHLFSFhvBpA
#15

16. The mission of the African
Health Open Educational
Resources (OER) Network
is to advance health
education in Africa by
creating and promoting
free, openly licensed
teaching materials
created by Africans to
share knowledge, address
www.oerafrica.org/healthoer
curriculum gaps, and
support health education
#16
communities.

17. Why OER?
Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and
Technology (KNUST)
(Ghana)
Peter Donkor
Pro Vice Chancellor,
former Provost of the
College of Health Sciences
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=AR31aCaj60Q
(90 seconds)
#17

18. Why OER?
#18

19. Gather Existing Materials
Assist health professionals in finding materials that
are free, electronic, and openly licensed (i.e.
expressly allow the general public to use, adapt,
copy, and redistribute)
Approach
Facilitate
Discussion
Foster dialogue
between health
professionals around
pedagogy, policy,
peer review, and openness
via onsite consultation,
discussion lists, conference
calls, and newsletters
#19

20. History of the Network
#20

21. 2008
• U-M President Mary Sue Coleman leads delegation to
Ghana and South Africa (February and March)
• Hewlett Foundation awards planning grant with
additional support from Soros and FAIMER (March)
– Health OER workshop in Ghana (May)
– dScribe development and materials piloting at U-M
– Grant writing trip in Africa (July)
• Institute of Medicine meeting (September)
• Hewlett awards “Design Phase” grant (Nov)
#21

22. 2009
• “Health OER Design Phase” partnership
of U-M, OER Africa, University of
Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University
of Science and Technology (Ghana), and
University of Cape Town and University
of the Western Cape (South Africa)
#22

23. 2009 Design Phase Logic Model
INPUT ACTIVITIES OUTPUT OUTCOMES
Detailed policy Reduced policy barriers to OER
Existing strategies to
learning development and use
facilitate OER
materials activities
Institutional Community of trained health OER
Hewlett Policy
Published and developers and implementers
Foundation Engagement
support implemented OER
(including
learning materials
logic model Visible and used portfolio of OER health
U-M compilation) education learning materials
Community of
financial
Practice website at
support
www.oerafrica.org Visible and accessible engagement process
Health OER
Publishing in health OER
Institutional
Projects
leadership
Enhanced dScribe
workflow Understanding of the contribution OER
makes to faculty productivity and student
Faculty learning outcomes
members,
Framework for
students
Impact studying faculty
Understood and implemented best practices
Analysis productivity and
for inter-institutional collaboration in OER
OER Africa effect on learning
expertise outcomes development and use
Model for building
institutional capacity
dScribe
through OER
workflow and
development and
OER tool
deployment
Evidence-based, long-term logic model for
OER Africa Analysis and
web site feedback on inter- Health OER
institutional
collaboration
capacity
#23

24. 2009 Design Phase Tasks
• Hold policy/sensitization and content development
workshops
• Identify curricular needs
• Publish materials (emphasis on co-creation of OERs
that work in respective local contexts)
• Undertake impact analysis
– Assess capacity to collaborate
– Design framework for assessing OER use and
effect on learning outcomes and faculty
productivity
#24

25. Cape Town Workshop (2009)
#25

26. 2010 Awarded 2 Year
Follow-on Grant
#26

27. Accomplishments
• 160 individuals trained
• Student publishing assistants
• 12 institutions have contributed OER Africa Convening, 2011. Photo by: Saide.
– 135 learning modules, including 339 separate materials
– 144 videos
• Over 1 million YouTube views
• Access from nearly every country around the world
• Policy workshops and subsequent implementation of
OER-enabling policies
#27

28. Visualization of greatest word
frequency in YouTube comments –
from wordle.net
#28

29. Platforms and Distribution
• Power outages are common.
• Bandwidth is very expensive.
• OER is distributed offline and online by
authoring institutions and the two Network
co-facilitators, OER Africa and U-M.
Learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qMiObNC3KYI
(12 minutes)
#29

30. L E D
EG N Distribution Flow for African Health OER Network
Health OER
L C IN TITU N
O AL S TIO S Server icon public domain,
http://clker.com/
All other icons - excluding
Computer trademarks - are public
Lab domain or CC BY from
http://thenounproject.com/
DVD/CD
S ID
A E
Server O E
TH R
(Public)
Search Utility
(Referatory)
U IV R ITY O M H A
N E S F IC IG N
Hard drive
Internet
Television
Service
Print-On-
Demand-Books
Mobile
Distribution
#30

31. #31

32. Impact - Alumni
University of Ghana
http://www.youtu.be/zzh1w
ybPf6o
(1:30 min)
University of Ghana. Photo by: The Regents of the
University of Michigan.
#32

33. Impact
• Participants are interested in connecting
with colleagues at other institutions for the
purpose of sharing knowledge.
• Several institutions have used or adapted
OER from elsewhere.
• Several institutions have successfully
integrated students into the design process
for OER, freeing up faculty time for other
activities.
#33

34. OER Examples
#34

35. Midwifery
students in
Malawi at
Kamuzu
College of
Nursing show
off OER
course
materials on
CD-ROM
#35

36. Image CC:BY-NC-SA Saide and University of Botswana
#36

37. #37

38. #38

39. #39

40. #40

41. #41

42. Challenges and Lessons Learned
• Intellectual property and faculty reward
• Technology standards and interoperability
• Building partnerships and sustainability
• Best Practices:
– Institutional level planning
– Building collaborations with other institutions
– Planning the big picture
– Deployment
– Assessment
#42
– Sustainability

43. Summary
• OER is seen as a means to streamlining
health education, not an end in itself.
#43 “Share your ideas” by britbohlinger

44. Questions/Discussion
#44

45. Ted Hanss
Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan Medical School
ted@umich.edu
+1.734.998.0086
More information:
www.oerafrica.org/healthoer
healthoer@oerafrica.org
open.umich.edu
Acknowledgement:
This project is supported by the Hewlett Foundation
#45