Where next? Remixing OER to deliver large-scale national professional development training in Kenya

Authors: Fereshte Goshtasbpour, Beck Pitt, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Cross and Denise Whitelock

Abstract: 

Enhancing and scaling online education as a key route to improving access to Higher Education (HE) is a priority for the Kenyan government (Kenya Vision 2030). The Open University (UK) as a part of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded Skills for Prosperity, Kenya (SFPK) programme is leading a national initiative to build HE expertise in digital education (The Institute of Educational Technology, 2021a). Collaborating with all 37 Kenyan public universities, SFPK offers large-scale supported online training to develop the knowledge and skills of educators, educational leaders and support staff to deliver online education.

 

This online training programme (The Institute of Educational Technology, 2021b) includes a course supported by webinars, expert talks and an online community of practice designed based on The Open University’s supported open learning models (McAndrew and Weller, 2005). This training is complimented by the opportunity to put theory into practice through university capacity building projects. Currently there are 16 projects being supported by mentors at eight universities; these projects are university developed and based on each institution’s strategic needs.

 

This session will explore the journey of an existing open course and how it has been reused and repurposed to offer professional development at a national level (The Institute of Educational Technology, 2021c) as well as subsequent localisation by Kenyan colleagues. This presentation will also explore the use and localisation of the OU’s supported learning model to develop the training programme. This session will be of particular interest to anyone interested in learning design, the remix and localisation and OER, digital education initiatives and/or supporting colleagues within diverse contexts.

 

References 

 

  1. The Government of Kenya. (2007). Kenya Vision 2030. Available at https://vision2030.go.ke/(last accessed 17/05/2022)
  2. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. (2021a). Skills for Prosperity Kenya. Available at https://iet.open.ac.uk/projects/skills-for-prosperity-kenya (last accessed 18/05/2022)
  3. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. (2021b). Skills for Prosperity Available at Kenya Programme. https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/index.php?categoryid=499(last accessed 18/05/2022)

4.Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University. (2021c). OU launches programme for online educators and educational leaders. Available at https://iet.open.ac.uk/research/OU-launches-programme-for-online-educators-and-educational-leaders (last accessed 18/05/2022)

  1. McAndrew, P., Weller, M. (2005). Applying Learning Design to Supported Open Learning. In: Koper, R., Tattersall, C. (eds) Learning Design. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27360-3_17

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