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Collaborative Development in Health Sciences

African Health OER Network Case Study

Ted Hanss

University of Michigan

University of Cape Town

Faculty of Health Sciences

27 July 2012Copyright 2012 The University of Michigan. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/>.

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Agenda

• Motivation: Health Challenges

• Response: African Health OER Network

– What is OER and what are its benefits?

– History of the Network

– Impact of the Network

• OER Examples

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Motivation: Health Challenges

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Health Challenges

The inadequate density and distribution of healthcare providers negatively affects health outcomes around the globe. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Source: World Health Organization. Working Together for Health: The World Health Report 2006. WHO Publications: Geneva. 2006.

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Source: World Health Organization. Working Together for Health: The World Health Report 2006. WHO Publications: Geneva. 2006.

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Millennium Development Goals

• Reduce child mortality – Drop the under-five rate by two thirds

• Improve maternal health– Reduce maternal mortality by three quarters

• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases– Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the

incidence of the others

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

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Human Resources for Health

• Any long-term solution to the global health crisis requires investment in human resources.

• Only well-trained health providers can ensure:– Achievement of the UN’s Millennium Development

Goals,– Implementation of global vaccination and medication

distribution, and– Preparation for the next epidemic

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Education Challenges

• Low budgets, small workforce, high disease burden

• Scarce, aging, and emigrating teaching staff

• Insufficient classroom spaces

Image CC:BY-NC University of Ghana

Crowded clinical settings

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When you look in textbooks it’s difficult to find African cases. The

cases may be pretty similar but sometimes it can be confusing when you see something that you see on white skin so nicely and very easy to pick up, but on the dark

skin it has a different manifestation that may be

difficult to see.

-Richard Phillips, lecturer, Department of Internal

Medicine, KNUST (Ghana) Image CC:BY-NC-SA Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

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Response: African Health OER Network

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Educational materials and resources offered via a license allowing anyone to use, adapt,

and re-distribute.

Free access to online articles, data, knowledge and information

for the public good.

Open Access

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Benefits of OER to the University

• Share expertise and curricula with other institutions

• Recruit students

• Decrease duplication, increase efficiency

• Increase university’s reputation globally

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Benefits of OER to the Faculty

• Recognition for their teaching

• Publish and promote their resources

• Connect with other collaborators

• Extend their reach and visibility

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U of Ghana Faculty Perspective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHLFSFhvBpA

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The mission of the African Health Open Educational Resources (OER) Network is to advance health education in Africa by creating and promoting free, openly licensed teaching materials created by Africans to share knowledge, address curriculum gaps, and support health education communities.

www.oerafrica.org/healthoer

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Why OER?

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

Technology (KNUST) (Ghana)

Peter Donkor

Pro Vice Chancellor, former Provost of the

College of Health Sciences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR31aCaj60Q

(90 seconds)

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Why OER?

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Gather Existing MaterialsAssist health professionals in finding materials that

are free, electronic, and openly licensed (i.e. expressly allow the general public to use, adapt,

copy, and redistribute)

Facilitate Discussion

Foster dialogue between health

professionals around pedagogy, policy,

peer review, and openness via onsite consultation,

discussion lists, conference calls, and newsletters

Approach

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History of the Network

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2008

• U-M President Mary Sue Coleman leads delegation to Ghana and South Africa (February and March)

• Hewlett Foundation awards planning grant with additional support from Soros and FAIMER (March)– Health OER workshop in Ghana (May)– dScribe development and materials piloting at U-M– Grant writing trip in Africa (July)

• Institute of Medicine meeting (September)• Hewlett awards “Design Phase” grant (Nov)

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2009

• “Health OER Design Phase” partnership of U-M, OER Africa, University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), and University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

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2009 Design Phase Logic Model

Institutional Policy

Engagement (including

logic model

compilation)

Published and implemented OER learning materials

Reduced policy barriers to OER development and use

Health OERPublishing

Projects

Community of Practice website at www.oerafrica.org

Impact Analysis

Enhanced dScribe workflow

U-M financial support

INPUT ACTIVITIES OUTPUT OUTCOMES

Hewlett Foundation

support

Institutional leadership

Faculty members, students

OER Africa expertise

Existing learning materials

dScribe workflow

and OER tool

Detailed policy strategies to

facilitate OER activities

Framework for studying faculty productivity and effect on learning

outcomes

Analysis and feedback on inter-

institutional collaboration

capacity

Community of trained health OER

developers and implementers

Visible and used portfolio of OER health

education learning materials

Visible and accessible engagement process

in health OER

Understanding of the contribution OER makes to faculty productivity and student

learning outcomes

Understood and implemented best practices for inter-institutional collaboration in OER

development and use

Evidence-based, long-term logic model for

Health OER OER Africa

web site

Model for building institutional capacity

through OER development and

deployment

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2009 Design Phase Tasks

• Hold policy/sensitization and content development workshops

• Identify curricular needs• Publish materials (emphasis on co-creation of OERs

that work in respective local contexts)• Undertake impact analysis

– Assess capacity to collaborate– Design framework for assessing OER use and effect

on learning outcomes and faculty productivity

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Cape Town Workshop (2009)

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2010 Awarded 2 Year Follow-on Grant

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Accomplishments

• 160 individuals trained • Student publishing assistants• 12 institutions have contributed

– 135 learning modules, including 339 separate materials

– 144 videos

• Over 1 million YouTube views• Access from nearly every country around the world• Policy workshops and subsequent implementation of

OER-enabling policies

OER Africa Convening, 2011. Photo by: Saide.

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Visualization of greatest word frequency in YouTube comments –

from wordle.net

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Platforms and Distribution

• Power outages are common. • Bandwidth is very expensive. • OER is distributed offline and online by

authoring institutions and the two Network co-facilitators, OER Africa and U-M.

Learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMiObNC3KYI

(12 minutes)

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Impact - Alumni

University of Ghana

http://www.youtu.be/zzh1wybPf6o

(1:30 min)

University of Ghana. Photo by: The Regents of the University of Michigan.

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Impact

• Participants are interested in connecting with colleagues at other institutions for the purpose of sharing knowledge.

• Several institutions have used or adapted OER from elsewhere.

• Several institutions have successfully integrated students into the design process for OER, freeing up faculty time for other activities.

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OER Examples

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Midwifery students in Malawi at Kamuzu

College of Nursing show

off OER course

materials on CD-ROM

#36Image CC:BY-NC-SA Saide and University of Botswana

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Challenges and Lessons Learned

• Intellectual property and faculty reward• Technology standards and interoperability• Building partnerships and sustainability• Best Practices:

– Institutional level planning– Building collaborations with other institutions– Planning the big picture – Deployment– Assessment– Sustainability

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Summary

• OER is seen as a means to streamlining health education, not an end in itself.

“Share your ideas” by britbohlinger

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Questions/Discussion

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Ted HanssChief Information OfficerUniversity of Michigan Medical Schoolted@umich.edu+1.734.998.0086

More information:www.oerafrica.org/healthoerhealthoer@oerafrica.orgopen.umich.edu

Acknowledgement:This project is supported by the Hewlett Foundation