Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are seen as a solution to the dire lack of access to quality education across the world, especially in Africa. Activity surrounding open licensing and open access to education content has increased exponentially since the term OER was coined in 2001, catalysed by strong advocates for open resource sharing, especially in Africa. However, a host of issues remain open for debate. How relevant are OER that have not been locally contextualised? Do OER solve the issues of making resources accessible to learners in remote, poorly connected areas? Can access to OER really contribute to quality learning? And how should governments develop OER policies?

Sharing resources questions the capacity of different institutions to collaborate in a meaningful way. Different steps in the sharing process are to be taken into account as we contend that teaching resources, despite their intrinsic qualities, can remain unexploited otherwise.