Need for a Culture of Sharing – A case study of Mauritian Educators [1177] Members : #OER16

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Wed, Apr 20 2016, 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Authors: Sandhya Gunness

Room: Prestonfield

Theme: Strategic and reputational advantages of openness

Type: Presentation

Description

Mauritius is a 2030 sq km tropical small island developing state with a population size of 1.4 million. Popularly known as an exclusive tourist destination, even with the effect of the recent economic downfall, Mauritius has astutely steered through the world economic crises by diversification of its economic pillars and the current government’s vision is to transform the country into a Knowledge Society. In the educational sector, we are not shielded from the effects of globalisation and worldwide diffusion of education policies of integrating technology in the classrooms. Policies for integrating technologies in schools are often articulated due to shifting paradigms within education and efforts to reform education handed down from more developed states. Open Educational Resources has been mentioned in the Education and Human Resources Strategy Plan 2008-2020 (EHRSP 2008-2020) as part of the first strategic objective of “increasing and widening access and ensuring equity”. The EHRSP also mentions the setting up of an Online Learner Support System to Promote eLearning and Open Educational Resources (EHRSP (2008), p119). Whilst the creation of an online system or repository of OER can help to increase awareness of teachers to resort to digital resources for enhancing their teaching and classroom sessions, there is neither the guarantee of sustained interest nor of enhancement in teaching practices. As Hattaka (2009, p1) mentions: “ OER initiatives are very commendable and needed but open content is not being used by educational organizations in developing countries (or rather the usage of the open resources is low)”. The phrase “Build it and they will come” (from the movie “Field of dreams”) clearly does not relate to repositories for open content. Larson and Murray (2008) more appropriately rephrased it to “Build it and they will not come unless you design a system to promote and encourage access”. One of the barriers to effectively integrate OEP is the incoherence between what government and project implementers propose as actions and social meanings and realities of teachers at the receiving end of these actions. Data has been collected from teachers who have followed e-learning courses in Educational technologies at the University of Mauritius to find out about their perceptions about OEP in their school environment. In particular, they followed a module on Open Educational Resources and technologies with tacit objectives of nurturing a culture of sharing, co-creation and respect for others creations. The results show that teachers value innovative teaching and learning practices which are enhanced (perhaps masked) by technology. There is also a deep-set culture of private tuition and fierce competition in particular grades of schools (Star schools) which inhibit open collaborative efforts, but this is less prominent in mainstream schools. Teachers are impeded by pressures to complete bulky curriculas and examinations and cramming take over more sound pedagogical approaches. There are also problems related to appropriate logistics and technical issues such as plugs and wirings that have not been resolved.

References

Dillon, P.W. (2003). Policies to enable teacher collaboration. Available at http://www.teachersnetwork.org/tnpi/research/growth/dillon.html.

Ehlers (2011) From Open Educational Resources to Open Educational Practices. E-learning Papers, 23(March), p.1-8. Available at: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media25231.pdf.

Hatakka, M. (2009), ‘Build it and they will come? – Inhibiting factors for reuse of open content in developing countries’, in EJISDC – The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 37, n. 5, pp. 1-16 http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/article/view/545/279

Larson, R.C. & Murray, M.E., 2007. Open Educational Resources for Blended Learning in High Schools: Overcoming Impediments in Developing Countries. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 12(1), p.85-103.

Mauritian Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources (2009), Education and human resources strategy plan (EHRSP) 2008-2020, Mauritian Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources, Port Louis, available at: http://www.gov.mu/portal/goc/educationsite/file/EHRSP%202008-2020.pdf (Accessed Dec 2015).

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