Differentiation in Access to, and the Use and Sharing of (Open) Educational Resources among Students and Lecturers at Kenyan Universities

Differentiation in Access to, and the Use
and Sharing of (Open) Educational
Resources among Students and Lecturers
at Kenyan Universities
JUDITH PETE
Prof. FRED MULDER
Prof. JOSE DUTRA

Who Am I?
• PhD Researcher at the Open University
Netherlands (OU NL)
• Member of Global Open Educational
Resources Graduate Network (GO-GN)
• Lecturer and Research Coordinator at
Tangaza University College, Nairobi Kenya
• Africa Co-ordinator for ROER4D project 2
OE Global Conference Cape Town, South Africa
8--10 March 2017
2

• ROER4D is a large-scale study carried
out to get a fair ‘OER Picture’ for the
Global South.
• South America, South East Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa.
• KENYA – Sub-Saharan country surveyed
8--10 March 2017
3

Sample
•798 students
•43 Lecturers
•Maseno, Great lakes,
Tangaza and Jomo
Kenyatta University
8--10 March 2017
4

Research Questions
• What is the state of connectivity and digital
proficiency?
• What kind and level of use, re-use, creation,
and sharing of educational resources (ER)?
• What is the level of awareness of licensing
related to open educational resources (OER)?
• How do they perceive the value of openness
in educational resources, its implementation
opportunities, and its institutional context?
8--10 March 2017
5

OE Global Conference Cape Town, South
Africa
8--10 March 2017
6

Africa
8--10 March 2017
7

Africa
8--10 March 2017
8

Africa
8--10 March 2017
9

Satisfaction with internet
connectivity
8--10 March 2017
10

Cont…
8--10 March 2017
11

Lecturers
8--10 March 2017
12

8--10 March 2017
13

Africa
8--10 March 2017
14

Africa
8--10 March 2017
15
Use of OER with an Open License or in the Public Domain (in percentages)
Lecturers Students
Rural Urban Rural Urban
Yes 41 43 45 35
No 27 28 25 20
Don’t know whether the resource I have used is
in the public domain or has an open license
32 29 30 45

Africa
8--10 March 2017
16

Africa
8--10 March 2017
17

Africa
8--10 March 2017
18
Potential motivators for the use and reuse of ER
> from ‘very unimportant’ to ‘very important’ <
(average on a 5 pt. Likert scale)
Lecturers Students
Bringing down costs for students 4.7 4.4
Helping other educators/students 4.6 4.4
Bringing down costs for course development for the institution 4.6 4.2
Knowing that other educators/students may use my materials,
improves the quality of my materials
4.6 4.2
Following normal practice in my discipline 4.5 (4.0)
Enhancing my reputation amongst my peers 4.2 (3.9)

Africa
8--10 March 2017
19Potential barriers for the use and reuse of ER
> from ‘not at all’ to ‘extremely’ <
(average on a 5 pt. Likert scale)
Lecturers Students
Lack of access to the internet 3.6 3.7
Lack of time 3.6 3.4
Lack of training 3.6 3.4
Lack of hardware 3.5 3.4
Lack of software 3.3 3.4
I worry about the quality of OER 3.3 3.4
Lack of support 3.3 3.3
Lack of knowledge about alternative intellectual property
systems (e.g. Creative Commons)
3.2 3.4
Lack of skills 3.2 3.3
Lack of interest 3.2 3.1
No reward system for devoting time and energy 3.1 (3.1)
No compensation for use/reuse of the resource 3.1 (3.0)

Africa
8--10 March 2017
20
Lecturer’s opinions on OER in their educational institution
> from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ (average on a 5 pt. Likert scale) <
Policies adopted by my institution support the use of OER 3.6
My institution has reliable infrastructure to store and preserve access to
teaching and learning materials (OER)
3.6
The OER initiative in my institution provides equal access to educational
materials to anyone
3.6
The OER initiative in my institution is able to sustain the maintenance
through internal funding and/or external contributions
3.4
There are ways for handling and utilizing OER in my institution as the main
or supplemental materials to support our courses
3.4
The instructors' attitudes in my institution are positive towards OER 3.4
The OER initiative in my institution encourages the development and
adaptation of teaching and learning materials in a variety of languages and
cultural contexts
3.2
In my institution the instructors have OER support services they need to
develop their courses
3.2
My institution has a valid model of OER quality assurance 3.2
My institution has reliable procedures to accredit online studies from other
educational institutions (portability of university credit)
3.2

Intention to Use OER
8--10 March 2017
21

Cont…
8--10 March 2017
22

Concluding Remarks
• Digital proficiency shows various patterns of
differentiation. Students at the urban universities
rate themselves clearly more ‘advanced’ than their
colleagues at the rural universities. Lecturers at the
rural universities score none of them ‘advanced’
while their urban-based colleagues show a more
than 25% ‘advanced’ share. Finally, urban
universities lecturers rate themselves more digitally
proficient than their students, whereas -
interestingly - at the rural universities this is the
opposite.
OE Global Conference Cape Town 8-10
2017
23

C.Remarks
• Level of satisfaction with the internet connection a
partly alarming outcome comes up. No matter
whether this relates to cost, speed, or stability, at
the rural universities the dissatisfaction is very
pronounced: around 80% for the students, and over
85% for the lecturers. At the urban universities the
overall appreciation is reverse: a very high level of
satisfaction (over 80%) regarding cost for both
students and lecturers. Yes, there is a substantial
digital differentiation in terms of internet access and
accessibility between rural and urban universities.
GO-GN Seminar Cape Town 7-12 Dec. 2013
24

C. Remarks
• Open licensing does not receive proper
attention. This appears from the question on
the application of licenses, on the one hand
to be assigned by respondents for their own
materials to others, and on the other hand by
respondents using open educational
resources from others.
2017
25

C. Remarks
• In practice, & interestingly enough, both
lecturers and students appear to act quite
frequently with an attitude and behaviour of
embracing those key OER attributes.
• The picture among the lecturers seems way
too positive and optimistic to be realistic and
credible.
• Lecturers (and students) both appear to have
strong intentions to participate in OER
initiatives, advocate OER-based courses, and
recommend OER to others.
2017
26

Recommendations
• Because a significant part of the lecturers at
Kenyan universities does not yet have the
required ICT competencies as foreseen in the
National ICT Policy, and because there is a
significant digital proficiency differentiation
(L &S) at urban and rural universities, the
implementation of that National ICT Policy
(which started in 2006) is at stake and needs
a strong government boost.
2017
27

Recommendations
• The alarmingly substantial digital
differentiation in terms of internet access
and accessibility and the extremely low level
of satisfaction with the internet connection
(cost, speed, and stability) at the rural
universities as compared to the urban
universities, puts a serious challenge on
Kenya, in order to countrywide realize the
ambition of the 2010 Kenyan constitution
and Kenya’s Vision 2030. Move from Dream to Reality*
2017
28

Recommendations
• The overall awareness and appreciation of
open licensing, let alone commitment to this
approach, is low and therefore a hindrance in
the adoption of the OER philosophy. More
positively judged, however, it is not absent
either, which may provide a fruitful basis to
further increase the teacher’s, institutional
and national awareness and understanding
of OER and open licensing.
2017
29

Recommendations
• The motivator and barrier sets, formulated
for ER and scored by both lecturers and
students, can be useful also in the context of
how to most effectively further OER in Kenya
as a country and at Kenyan educational
institutions.
2017
30

What Next
• What is the future of OER in Kenya?
2017
31

Differentiation in Access to, and the Use and Sharing of (Open) Educational Resources among Students and Lecturers at Kenyan Universities

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