Implementation of open education resources at the University of Nairobi: a case of innovation studies course

Abstract

Universities all around the world are grappling with issues of increasing access to higher education. Open education resources (OER), have the potential to increase participation in higher education and promote lifelong learning. There are several projects that have been initiated in several countries especially in the developed countries, to foster the agenda of OER. Although OER are high on the agenda of social and inclusion policies, and are supported by many stakeholders in the educational sphere, their use in higher education has not yet reached a critical threshold (Ehlers, 2011). The uptake of OER at the University of Nairobi is still low. It’s in this line that this research was carried out in order to explore the implementation of OER at the University of Nairobi and to offer guidance on how OER courses should be implemented. The research employed the use of exploratory research design to get insights on the implementation of OER courses at the University of Nairobi. A course on innovation studies was “OERized” using the Side Cap model, deployed and its use evaluated through sign ups to the course and students participations. A questionnaire was administered to further evaluate the use of the OER course. The “OERized” course attracted 153 learners by the time this report was being written. The results of the study indicate that there is little evidence of “OERization” of the courses at UON though there is some form of openness; the policies at the UON do not fully support “OERization”; there is low awareness of OER among learners; ICT skills are necessary for uptake of OER courses and there is need to train the staff and learners on the use of the technology being used. The researcher concludes that “OERization” can help UON and other universities bridge the gap of access to higher education and recommends, establishment of the necessary policies and guidelines, ICT literacy and OER awareness campaigns, use of an engaging platform to deploy the course, provision of incentives to content producers and learners and training the content producers a