Research on Open Educational Resources 
for Development (ROER4D) in the Global South: Update March 2016 Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams with the ROER4D team's presentation to the Hewlett Foundation, UCT, Cape Town 14 March 2016

1. Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams with the ROER4D team
Presentation to the Hewlett Foundation, UCT, Cape Town
14 March 2016
Research on Open Educational Resources
for Development (ROER4D) in the Global South:
Update March 2016

2. Rising numbers of students in the education sector
Education institutions under political & financial
pressure to provide equal access to education
Expensive, limited in number, often outdated
textbooks are not entirely relevant to the context
Employability of graduates
Reduction of educational funding by governments
Key challenges facing education in developing countries
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APCoE_students_at_AICTE_Regional_Office_in_Mumbai.jpg
Shortage of qualified teachers

3. Key challenges facing education in South Africa
#Feesmustfall protests in Nov 2015 & Feb
2016 in South Africa
• Cost of tuition & learning materials
• Relevance of curriculum
By Discott (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

4. OER as a response to some challenges facing education
in general – NMC Horizon Report 2015
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2015.pdf

5. Open education systems as a competing model – NMC
Horizon Report 2016
MOOCs
Open badging
Little OER?
http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN.pdf

6. http://oermap.org/oer-evidence-map/
Most OER research taking place in Global North

7. ROER4D Funding
International Development Research
Centre (IDRC)
Open Society Foundations (OSF)
UK Department for International
Development (DFID)
IDRC
OSF DFID

8. ROER4D Hosting – Network Hub
Wawasan Open University
Penang, Malaysia
Centre for Innovation in Learning &
Teaching (CILT)
Centre for Higher Education
Development (CHED)
University of Cape Town
South Africa

9. 3 year project (27 Aug 2013 - 27 Aug 2016)
CAD 2.4 million
3 Regions & 15 countries
South America - 4 countries
Sub-Saharan Africa - 3 countries
Southeast Asia - 5 countries
16 Time zones
12 projects in 7 clusters
58 researchers & research associates
1 Full-time Project Manager, 3 Half-time
Project staff and 1 day-a-week Principal
Investigator at 1 host institution – Centre
for Innovation in Learning and Teaching
(CILT), University of Cape Town (UCT)
ROER4D Phase 1: Adoption

10. 3 and half year project (27 Aug 2013 - 27
Feb 2017)
CAD .5 million in addition to 2.4 million
3 Regions & 26 countries
South America - 4 countries
Sub-Saharan Africa - 14 countries
Asia, Southeast Asia - 8 countries
16 Time zones
18 projects in 7 clusters
100+ researchers & research associates
1 Full-time Project Manager and 1 Full-time
Curation & Dissemination Manager, 3
Half-time Project staff, 2 Half-time Project
staff members and 2 day-a-week Principal
Investigators at 2 host institution - Centre
for Innovation in Learning and Teaching
(CILT), University of Cape Town (UCT)
& Wawasan Open University
10
ROER4D Phase 2: Adoption & Impact Studies

11. In what ways, for whom and under what circumstances, can the adoption of
OER impact upon the increasing demand for accessible, relevant, high-
quality, and affordable education in the Global South?
Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D)

12. ROER4D
Network hub
OER Desktop
overview (1) Survey of OER
adoption by
academics & students
(1)
Academics’
adoption of OER
(2)
Teacher educators’
adoption of OER (3)
OER adoption in
one country (1)
OER impact
studies (7+1)
Baseline educational
expenditure (2)
Overview of ROER4D’s 7 Project Clusters

13. Knowledge
building
Research
capacity
Networking
1. Build an
empirical
knowledge base
on the use and
impact of OER in
education
2. Develop
the research
capacity of
OER
researchers
3. Build a
network of
OER
scholars
5. Communicate
research to inform
education policy and
practice
ROER4D Objectives
4. Curate &
disseminate
research
openly
Curation &
dissemination
Research
capacity
Communication

14. Leadership
Management
Communication
Curation &
dissemination
Networking
Research capacity
Specific objectives
Enabling objectives
ROER4D Specific & enabling objectives, evaluation
Knowledge building
E
V
A
L
U
A
T
I
O
N
Visible
Less visible

15. ROER4D Implicit objective: Open research
To meet our explicit objectives we realised that we needed to undertake our research
as “openly” as possible
Open research

16. ROER4D Building a network of OER scholars
1. Attend workshops, webinars, meetings & conferences
2. Find synergies with the other OER research projects (e.g. OER Research Hub)
3. Find mutually supportive activities with the GO-GN OER PhD network & OER
World Map
4. Track growth of network since the inception of the ROER4D project
5. Encourage mentors and researchers to participate in social media sites related to
the project (e.g. Twitter, Facebook)

17. ROER4D Networking within ROER4D
Prepared by Sarah Goodier 11 March 2016

18. ROER4D Research capacity building progress
1. Operationalised instruments
2. Refinement of conceptual and theoretical frameworks
3. Writing of research reports with written in-text and global comments with follow-
up Face-to-face or Skype sessions

19. ROER4D Curating & disseminating research
● Provide a content management and publishing service to SP
researchers and the Network Hub team in order to advance
research capacity development efforts.
● Address infrastructure deficits and provide content management
solutions (including content hosting) in a research community with
uneven institutional support and capacity challenges.
● Ensure that the ROER4D legacy is freely accessible for reuse in line
with international curatorial and publishing standards.
● Support Principal Investigators and SP researchers in editorial
development of ROER4D outputs.
● Complement Network Hub Communications efforts in an
integrated communications/dissemination approach.

20. Open Research – ROER4D instruments
Copies of the instruments and a description of the context in which these
instruments were used is available for downloading from UCT’s Data First
portal.
https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/

21. Open Research – ROER4D research data
Copies of both quantitative and qualitative research data are available for
downloading from UCT’s Data First portal if you login to the site.
https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/

22. Open Research – ROER4D dissemination plan
Using an Open
Textbook platform as
an Open Research
platform
Different layers of detail of reports:
• Executive summaries
• Multi-media summary (5 min video, presentation, digital story, etc.)
• Individual project reports linked to open data (where available & suitable)
• Individual portfolio reports linked to open strategy documents
Remixing of content (e.g. all the regional South American reports together)

23. ROER4D Communicating initial findings
http://roer4d.org/category/blogarchive
Initial findings published
in Blogs and on
SlideShare
http://www.slideshare.net/ROER4D/

24. INFLUENCING FACTORS
 Structural: Few national or
regional OER policies exist
[SP4 South Africa]; Very few
national OER repositories
exist [SP5 India]; knowledge
of legal structures (copyright
and Creative Commons) not
widespread [SP 5 India]
 Cultural: Institutional policy
compliance may depend
strongly on the type of
institution [SP4 South Africa]
 Agential: Educators are keen
to share, but may be
constrained within the
education system [SP5 India]
OER PRACTICES
 The term “open
educational resources” is
not well enough understood
to be able to ask
respondents directly if, or
how, they use OER [SP2]
 The OER practices -
Wiley’s 5 Rs (reuse, revise,
remix, redistribute and
retain) do not all translate
easily into other languages
[SP2] and need more
nuanced conceptual work
IMPACT INDICATORS
 Cost-savings are difficult
to establish as baseline
data on government
expenditure on teaching
and learning materials in
the school sector is not
always available [SP11
South Africa, SP12 Brazil,
Chile, Colombia, Paraguay,
Uruguay]
 Networking among
teachers to share materials
seems to be growing due to
engagement with OER
[SP5 India]
ROER4D Knowledge building – initial findings

25. ROER4D Evaluating research progress
1. Mapping activities against the original objectives
2. Identifying the outputs
3. Defining short-term outcomes
Example of the
Networking
objective

26. 26
● How to undertake “open research” in an environment when “closed research is
most prevalent
● How best to curate project documents and data with open licences wherever
possible
● When to make documents or data “open” and when not
● How to optimise online communication engagement across 16 time zones
● How best to engage with researchers when we don’t speak their home language
or can’t read the questions or responses in the instruments
● How best to assist researchers with their research instrument development,
data analysis and synthesis, data curation, report-writing and identifying
publication avenues
● How to showcase the provisional research from the network before
researchers have been able to publish their own findings
● How to identify what “impact” means in various contexts and how to tease out
the various indicators - even analytically, if not in practice.
ROER4D Still grappling with …

27. ROER4D Looking forward to …
Leveraging the ROER4D research by:
1. Undertaking cross-regional comparison from Impact Studies with Adoption studies
2. Undertaking translation and re-writing for specific audiences – e.g. inter-
governmental agencies, government policy makers in various countries,
institutional decision-makers (Spanish, Portuguese, Behasa Melayu and Hindi
translator and re-writers would be needed)
3. Disseminating project outputs in layers – executive summaries, regional reports,
country reports, policy briefs (Digital resource curator and communicator) and link
to other projects (e.g. Open Education Research Hub, OER World Map)

28. Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?

29. Additional slides for
explanations

30. https://stateof.creativecommons.org/report/

31. In what ways, for whom and under what
circumstances, can the adoption of OER impact upon
the increasing demand for accessible, relevant, high-
quality, and affordable education in the Global South?
31
CHALLENGES FOR WHOM OR AT WHAT LEVEL: Global to student
INFLUENCING FACTORS: Contextual - structural, cultural, agential
OER PRACTICES: OER creation, location, reuse (or non-use), revision,
remixing, redistribution, legal retention of original and copies
IMPACT INDICATORS: accessible, affordable & high-quality materials
(relevant, current), learner performance, teacher practice
ROER4D Main research question & themes

32. INFLUENCING FACTORS
(See Archer)
 Structural:
 Infrastructure
 Policy
 Repositories
 ...
 Cultural
 Compliance
culture
 Management
styles
 ...
 Agential
 Will / volition
 Awareness
32
OER & OER PRACTICES
(Innovation) (See Wiley,
Beetham, Hodgkinson-
Williams)
 OER as the
object/product
 OER as a
practice/process
 Creation
 Location
 Copy/Reuse
 Customisation/Revis
ion
 Combination/Remixi
ng
 Copy
 Keeping legal
copy/Retaining
 Redistribution
IMPACT INDICATORS
(of aspect of
educational
problems/
development
imperatives) (See
Mulder)
 Learning
materials
 Cost
 Quality:
relevance,
currency
 Learner
 Performance
 Satisfaction
 Teacher
 Practices
 Perceptions
ROER4D Relationships being investigated

33. ROER4D 1. Knowledge building
Strategies – some open, some closed
1. Sharing Open Access
literature and/or reference
list
• Reference list in a
Google spreadsheet
with links
• Links to the IDRC
databases
2. Sharing some draft versions
of reports
3. Brokering relationships
between researchers inside
and outside of ROER4D

34. ROER4D Knowledge building progress
Adoption Studies
• SP1 – Released one of three overviews
• SP2 – Received draft report of survey
of … students & educators across 3
regions & researcher part of new study
• SP3 – Received draft report &
instruments released in a paper
• SP4 – Received draft report and
released instruments & open data &
paper in press
• SP5 – Received draft report
• SP6 – Waiting for translation of draft
report
• SP7 – Fieldwork being completed
• SP8 – Received draft report
• SP 9 – Received final report &
researcher now part of new study
• SP 11 – Received final report, 1 blog
• SP12 – Received final report, 1
conference paper
Impact Studies
• SP10.1 Fieldwork in progress
• SP10.2 Fieldwork in progress
• SP10.3 Fieldwork in progress, annotated
bibliography released, conference papers
• SP10.4 Fieldwork in progress
• SP10.5 Fieldwork in progress
• SP10.6 Fieldwork in progress
• SP10.7 Fieldwork in progress

35. ROER4D 2. Research capacity building
1. Consulted 9 major OER surveys to develop a bank
of potential questions in a cloud-based spreadsheet
made public with comment rights
2. Shared Qs with researchers, showing how they
would appear via an online survey site
3. Engaged with researchers online via webinars to
harmonise questions & continued discussion off-
line via discussion on Sakai-based forum and/or
email
4. Piloted survey based on harmonised questions with
ROER4D members and other OER colleagues
(version 1), assessed results and fed results of pilot
survey back to network & revised the questions and
shared them with network (version 2)
5. Had researchers present their adaptations of the
survey for their specific sub-projects via webinars
6. Provide guidelines for research reporting
7. Continue to provide on-going feedback on reports
Strategies – some open, most closed

36. ROER4D 3. Building a network of OER scholars
Strategies – most open
1. Attend workshops, webinars, meetings & conferences
2. Find synergies with the other OER research projects (e.g. OER Research Hub)
3. Find mutually supportive activities with the GO-GN OER PhD network & OER
World Map
4. Track growth of network since the inception of the ROER4D project
5. Encourage mentors and researchers to participate in social media sites related to
the project (e.g. Twitter, Facebook)

37. ROER4D 4. Curating & disseminiating research
Strategies – most open, some closed
1) Share research documents tracking entire cycle:
• Institutional repositories for long term curation
• Institutional learning management system for short and long-term repository of
versions of developing documents
• Open repositories (Zenodo, etc.) for maximum discoverability
• Website and social media sharing sites for maximum visibility and discoverability
2) Share research instruments and data openly (DataFirst)
3) Share final research report as an ebook (using an open textbook software
platform – PressBooks Open Textbook)

38. ROER4D Archiving – Open & closed resources

39. ROER4D 5. Communicating research
Strategies – open
ROER4D Website –
http://roer4d.org
1. Establish project visibility through website and social media.
2. Share and disseminate project outputs (proposals, presentations on SlideShare).
3. Share process of research through Facebook, Twitter, blogs and newsletters to
build credibility and invite feedback.
4. Maintain presence and schedule regular updates on media channels.
5. Develop a ‘voice’ for project and profiles for researchers.

40. ROER4D 6. Evaluating research
Strategies – some open, some closed
1. Understand what is needed in terms of the scope of
evaluating the ROER4D project – the evaluation
work is iterative by nature.
2. In collaboration with the ROER4D network hub
team, formulate an evaluation plan – including what
to evaluate and how.
• The experience of the evaluation process and
the effect this has is a key component of the
evaluation.
3. Get feedback from DECI-2 around the evaluation
work and incorporate this into the process.
4. Connect with members of the ROER4D, where
needed, to conduct surveys, interviews, etc.
5. Assess the findings.
6. Share products of the evaluation work (e.g. slides
around process and results, reports, etc.) timeously
to allow the findings and recommendations to effect
change.
7. Be aware of all components of the evaluation work
and collaborate/share information where possible
and where needed.

41. References
Archer, M. (2003) Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hodgkinson-Williams, C. & Gray, E. (2009). Degrees of openness: The emergence of open educational
resources at the University of Cape Town. International Journal of Education and Development using
Information and Communication Technology, 5(5), 101-116. Available online:
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/8860 [Last Accessed 23 January 2015].
Hodgkinson-Williams, C. A. (2014). Degrees of Ease: Adoption of OER, OpenTextbooks and MOOCs in the
Global South. Keynote address at the OER Asia Symposium 2014. Available online:
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/1188 [Last accessed 3 March 2015]
Smith M. & Casserly C. (2006) The Promise of Open Educational Resources. Available online:
http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/changearticle.pdf [Last accessed 4 March
2014]
Wiley, D. (2014). The Access Compromise and the 5th R. Retrieved from:
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221

42. Links
Website: www.roer4d.org
Contact Principal Invesigator:
cheryl.hodgkinson-williams@uct.ac.za
Follow us: http://twitter.com/roer4D
Presentations: www.slideshare.com/roer4D

43. Acknowledgments & Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License.
Written by Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams,
Henry Trotter, Tess Cartmill, Sukaina Walji,
Sarah Goodier, Thomas King & Michelle
Willmers
Contact:
cheryl.hodgkinson-williams@uct.ac.za
Graphics by Rondine Carstens
rondine.carstens@uct.ac.za, Cheryl
Hodgkinson-Williams & Henry Trotter
henry.trotter@uct.ac.za