Creating Open Education Resources for Teaching and Community Development through Action Research: The Milk Production and Hygiene Module

Abstract

One of the cornerstones of the AgShare program is the application of an information loop of action research in the training of graduate students to generate new and practical educational materials and interventions for creating OER modules for teaching at universities, and designing interventions and training programs for making improvements in the dairy value chain in Uganda. One major output of the action research project was the generation of data for use in partial fulfillment of a Master’s of Science and Master’s in Agribusiness and Management degrees by participating students. A Milk Production and Hygiene OER module was developed based on components in milk safety, dairy policy, contaminants in milk and dairy products, quality assurance, and dairy planning and management. The OER module was incorporated into an existing graduate level course at Makerere University. As the AgShare approach continuously updates educational materials through the information loop, this ensures that university training of students is applicable to the current needs of the dairy industry.

Literature review on the use of action research in higher education

“…Students also engage in AR projects outside of their formal coursework. They may be asked to participate in an AR project initiated by a university teacher on a variety of topics, including those designed to improve teaching, learning and assessment strategies, or to improve the student experience (Farrell, Vernaza, Perkins et al 2012;Moore and Gayle 2010;Paiewonsky 2011;Ssajjakambwe et al 2013). …”

A incompatibilidade entre os atributos dos recursos educacionais abertos e as preferências dos usuários como barreira à difusão de inovação

“…A pesquisa-ação é uma abordagem de pesquisa participativa que busca reunir ação e reflexão, ideias e prática para obter soluções práticas para problemas que preocupam as pessoas e comunidades (Reason, & Bradbury, 2007). Tendo em vista que os REA surgiram para resolverem um problema prático, de acesso a oportunidades educacionais de qualidade, o formato da pesquisa ação adequa-se ao acompanhamento de projetos de implantação de REA, (Borthwick & Dicken, 2013;Johansen & Wiley, 2011;Ssajjakambwe et al, 2013;Whyte, Schmid, van Hazebrouck Thompson, & Oberhofer, 2014;Wiley, Hilton III, Ellington, & Hall, 2012), desdobrando-se, ainda, em pesquisa participativa (Muganda, Samzugi, & Mallinson, 2016) e design-based research (Onguko, 2014;Parker, Maor, & Herrington, 2013;Trgalová & Jahn, 2013) .…”