Report

Investments in early years of education and childhood development are among the most cost-effective and beneficial a country can make to tackle learning poverty, promote healthy child development, and enhance shared prosperity. Over the past two decades, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) has scaled up its commitment to early childhood education and development (ECED) through various educational reforms, policies, programs, and financial investments. With the expansion of Indonesia’s ECED system, the GoI has committed to improving its quality since the early 2000s.

This report seeks to explore various issues relating to education in sub-Saharan Africa. Of particular interest is how distance education and open learning can be supported by ICT, for the majority of people in Africa (many of whom are now excluded from educational opportunities of any form). The report is based on desk research, including a review of literature and examples of current initiatives using ICTs for education in sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on open and distance learning.

This paper examines the concept of OER in more detail, offering a simple, clear definition, explaining the economic and educational potential behind that definition, introducing examples of OER practices around the world, exploring legal considerations, and highlighting some of the challenges to releasing the transformative
potential of OER.

Education systems around the world have traditionally been characterized by closed knowledge systems, overly prescriptive curricula, narrow conceptions of success and achievement, and a failure to fully empower teachers as facilitators of learning. This inhibits their ability to develop a full spectrum of human learning capabilities amongst learners, especially in their formative schooling years.

Openly licensed educational content and librarians could enable more equitable access to quality resources, but only if governments, the development community, and other stakeholders pay attention to open educational resources (OER), open access, and other forms of open learning and research. This overview considers one global instrument aimed at facilitating openness, the UNESCO OER Recommendation, and carefully inspects it as it relates to the different library types in Africa and the user communities the libraries represent. 

The same disruptive technologies transforming traditional markets and changing skills demands are also altering the methods through which workers can learn and acquire new skills. EdTech innovations, such as technology-enabled learning materials, online and blended learning, adaptive learning software, and micro-credentials, can help to close skills gaps in developing countries by improving the quality of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) delivery, particularly as it relates to acquisition and assessment of technical skills.

The idea of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) has generated growing interest from governments around the world as a possible mechanism for developing and sustaining public infrastructure and services. For example, PPPs were identified at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development as significant tools for achieving global sustainable development. Many governments are turning to the private sector for the financing, design, construction and operation of infrastructure projects.

UNIMA finds itself in a situation where very few students have access to the approved textbooks and readings, nullifying the prescribed book lists. Resources in the reserve section of the college libraries are in great demand, and popular books undergo rebinding many times in their life cycle.

It is against this background that UNIMA embarked on a strategy to exploit Open Education Resources (OER).