The TESSA OER Experience: Building sustainable models of production and user implementation

Wolfenden, Freda

doi:10.5334/2008-3

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Compared to the salaries of similar professionals, instructor salaries at many African institutions are low (Wolfenden, 2008). Thus, the above suggestions may need to be supported with other measures.…”

Section: Sustaining Involvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing and deploying OERs in sub-Saharan Africa: Building on the present

Wright¹,

Reju

2012

IRRODL

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Open educational resources (OERs) have the potential to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase access to educational opportunities. OER development and deployment is one path that could contribute to achieving education for all. This article builds on existing information and communication technology (ICT) implementation plans in Africa and on the experiences of organizations and initiatives such as the African Virtual University (AVU), OER Africa, the South African Institute of Distance Education (SAIDE), and the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) Project, to present one view of the benefits, challenges, and steps that could be taken to realize the potential of OERs in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the article focuses on the factors necessary for creating and sustaining a vision for OER development and deployment; developing and distributing resources with an open license; improving technology infrastructure and reducing the cost of Internet access; establishing communities of educational collaborators; sustaining involvement in the OER initiative; producing resources in interoperable and open formats; establishing and maintaining the quality of OERs; providing local context to address national and regional needs and conditions; informing the public about OERs; and taking the initiative to build on the knowledge, skills, and experiences of others. In order to assist educators and decision makers, links to a variety of resources are provided.

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Section: Sustaining Involvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing and deploying OERs in sub-Saharan Africa: Building on the present

Wright¹,

Reju

2012

IRRODL

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“…Teacher educators and teachers select from the bank according to the demands of their different settings. The materials are directly linked to the pupil curriculum, allowing teachers to develop their skills within their usual professional practice (Wolfenden, 2008).…”

Section: Tessamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) is a demand-led research and development project providing a practical and scalable response to the huge need for more qualified and skilled teachers in Sub Saharan Africa (Moon, 2007;Wolfenden, 2008). To meet the targets of the Education for All initiative and Millennium Development Goals for education (UNESCO, 2010) an estimated 1.2 million new teachers are needed in this region, in addition to training for existing teachers, many of whom have had little access to either pre-service or in-service provision (Lewin and Stuart, 2003).…”

Section: Tessamentioning

confidence: 99%

OER Adaptation and Reuse across cultural contexts in Sub Saharan Africa: Lessons from TESSA (Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa)

Wolfenden¹,

Buckler

Keraro

2012

JIME

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Over a period of three years a number of International and African based institutions collaborated to design and create a set of Open Educational Resources (OERs) to support school based teacher education as part of the TESSA project. Writing the materials drew on case studies, experiences and existing resources from across the region using a highly structured template. These TESSA OERs were then adapted to be appropriate for each user setting and practices. It is this process -supporting the user community to harness and integrate OERs for their own systems and cultures, which is the focus of this article. The authors draw on a range of data to make explicit the kinds of knowledge, skills and support employed in the adaptation process and in particular the role of the structured template in supporting this process, and the problems encountered. The article suggests that OERs will only fulfil their promise if more attention is accorded to issues of user access and skills as well as the form of the OERs, their purpose and underlying pedagogy. Finally the paper offers suggestions for guidance to support other users in adapting OERs for their own context whilst maintaining the quality of the OERs and working towards self-sustaining communities of users.

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“…The model is focused on the school as the site for professional learning supported by local structures. Thus, teachers using TESSA OER are to be able to continue to attend to their own learners whilst studying, integrating teaching and studying within their context (Wolfenden, 2008). This is one reason why the teachers in this study after their training were encouraged to keep a reflective learning journal as they use the OER in their teaching experiences.…”

Section: Tessa Open Educational Resources (Tessa Oer)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worth mentioning that the TESSA OER is unique in the sense that it is audience specific to teachers and the teacher educator has to be in control of the initiative. TESSA OER were created collaboratively by teacher educators from across Africa, and over 100 authors were involved (Wolfenden, 2008). This aspect of the TESSA OER makes it stand out as interoperable since partner institutions cannot be seen as consumers of imported educational material, as is commonly known but rather as collaborators in content, production, distribution and utilization (ibid).…”

Section: Tessa Open Educational Resources (Tessa Oer)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Reflective Learning Experiences of Primary School Teachers during the use of Open Educational Resources

Essuman

2015

JET

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This paper looks at the reflective learning experiences of primary school teachers, who were encouraged to engage in reflective activities as a way of improving their pedagogical practice during the use of Open Educational Resources (OER). The assumption of the study was that OERs have the potential to improve teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and skills, as well as their networking and collaborative activities and impact on their professional practice. Ten (10) out of forty-two (42) primary school teachers, who participated in a training workshop focused on the use of OER, were purposively sampled to keep a reflective journal of their learning experiences and share the outcomes with their colleagues. Interviews were used in collecting data from the cohort. Using phenomenology as a methodology and content analysis as a tool for analyzing the data collected, the 'stories' of these teachers were analyzed manually and presented in a report at a seminar. The findings indicated that teachers acknowledged the added values that OER have had on their pedagogical practice; the influence that the new knowledge and skills have had on students' learning and the enthusiasm that students exhibited when active learning strategies were used in teaching. However, the reflective learning elements that teachers were expected to exhibit in their writing were lacking. The deep thinking and learning from their critical analysis of their experiences were not evident in their responses. It is recommended that sessions on reflective teaching, learning and writing should be incorporated into pre-and in-service teachers' training sessions. Skill building in reflective writing and learning should be introduced to teachers early in practice and during training for them to build the culture of reflection in teaching.

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The TESSA OER Experience: Building sustainable models of production and user implementation

Cited by 16 publications

References 7 publications

Developing and deploying OERs in sub-Saharan Africa: Building on the present

Developing and deploying OERs in sub-Saharan Africa: Building on the present

OER Adaptation and Reuse across cultural contexts in Sub Saharan Africa: Lessons from TESSA (Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa)

Exploring the Reflective Learning Experiences of Primary School Teachers during the use of Open Educational Resources

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