Factors influencing Open Educational Practices and OER in the Global South: Meta-synthesis of the ROER4D project
Cheryl-Ann Hodgkinson-Williams
Patricia Arinto
Tess Cartmill
Thomas King
10.25375/uct.10007171.v1
https://zivahub.uct.ac.za/articles/book/Factors_influencing_Open_Educational_Practices_and_OER_in_the_Global_South_Meta-synthesis_of_the_ROER4D_project/10007171
<p>This chapter provides a meta-synthesis of the findings from the
Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D)
empirical studies based on the 13 sub-project chapters in this volume as
well as other sub-project research reports. It does so by analysing how
three phases of Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption – OER
creation, use and adaptation – are observed in the studies as forms of
Open Educational Practices (OEP), identifying where there are most
likely to be disjunctures that inhibit optimal OER adoption processes
and their longer-term sustainability. It compares the open practices
reported in the ROER4D sub-project studies to an idealised or maximal
set of open processes, modelled as the Open Education cycle framework.
It draws upon social realist theory to uncover agential decision-making
about OER creation, use and adaptation in relation to structural and
cultural environments, and seeks to answer the ROER4D project’s
overarching research question: Whether, how, for whom and under what
circumstances can engagement with OEP and OER provide equitable access
to relevant, high-quality, affordable and sustainable education in the
Global South?</p>
<p><br></p><p>This chapter interrogates findings from the ROER4D empirical studies
using a metasynthesis approach. Following a review of sub-project
research reports (including, in some cases, primary micro data), the
authors used a literature-informed set of themes to create the
meta-level conceptual framework for claims about OER and OEP in relation
to access, quality and affordability; the Open Education cycle; and
structural, cultural and agential influences on the potential impact on
access, quality and affordability.</p>
<p><br></p><p>Nvivo software was used to help reveal literature-informed and
emergent themes in the studies, identifying the most frequently
occurring themes to provide a more comprehensive and classified
interpretation of the findings across the empirical studies. Insights
and recommendations were then distilled according to Archer’s (2003;
2014) social realist theoretical framework which assesses social change –
and its counterpart, stasis – according to dynamically interactive and
structural, cultural and agential factors. The authors used these three
factors to guide their analysis of the ROER4D findings, as understood in
relation to the three broad phases of OER adoption (creation, use and
adaptation) proposed in the Open Education cycle.</p>
<p><br></p><p>Findings show that in the Global South contexts studied, the ideal or
maximal Open Education cycle is incomplete in terms of optimising the
benefits of OER adoption. There are five key points of disjuncture: (1)
the dependence on copying of existing OER and the corollary failure to
localise; (2) the adaptation of OER, but with inconsistent curation and
rehosting of derivative works on publicly available platforms or in
repositories, limiting access to the derivative OER; (3) limited
circulation of derivative OER due, in part, to the absence of a
communication strategy; (4) inconsistent quality assurance processes;
and (5) a weak feedback loop for continuous improvement of the original
or derivative work.</p>
<p><br></p><p>The chapter concludes with a critical exploration of the range of
influences of OER and associated practices on access to educational
materials, the quality of educational resources, educators’ pedagogical
perspectives and practices, and student performance as well as the
overall affordability and sustainability of education in the Global
South. It argues that full participation in the OER movement in the
Global South requires that certain structural factors be put in place –
including a minimum level of infrastructural support, legal permission
to share materials and OER curation platforms – to curate
curriculum-aligned OER in local languages. However, these structural
adjustments alone are insufficient for the full value proposition of OER
to be realised. While individual educators and some institutions are
sharing OER, this willingness needs to be bolstered by a much stronger
cultural change where communities of educators and students are given
technical and pedagogical support to enable OER uptake – especially the
creation and adaptation of OER produced in the Global South.</p>
2019-10-22 13:12:54
adoption
agency
Global South
metasynthesis
oep
oer
open education resources
open education
open education practices
ROER4D
Social Realism
Higher Education
Education