OER policy development and usage: a study of progress in two countries since the 2012 COL & UNESCO Survey

Abstract

Valuable information on the nature and extent of existing OER policy and activity has been provided in the 2012 COL & UNESCO Survey on Governments' Policies which, inter alia, noted that the qualitative responses from the survey suggest that few OER policies "exist, as many policies are still in the process of being drafted". In 2008, COL initiated a large scale "OER4 Open Schooling" project to help educators in six countries to improve their knowledge and skills in developing effective open and distance learning(ODL)materials at the secondary-school level.The next phase of this project has begun, with the roll out of the usage of the recently developed materials and the dissemination of the skills to implement, adapt and re-use the materials beyond the unprecedented initiatives.One issue emerging from the two initiaves i.e the policy survey and the OER4 Open Schooling, is the role that the participant can play of are already playing in OER policy development, dissemination and in the usage of OER in their countries. // The paper aims to present the result of a survey on the educators who participated or are still participating in the COL OER4 Open Schooling project in two African countries. These countries, Ghana and Zambia were neither listed among countries that had OER policies nor those that had references to OER in other public policies at the time of the COL & UNESCO Survey.The paper will examine the educators' current roles in the OER movement, in policy development and in the dissemination and usage of OERs. It will also solicit the educators' views on the progress achieved by the countries in development of OER policy, national contexts, institutional participation and general rolling out and usage of OERs developed through initiatives such as the OER4 Opens Schooling project.