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APG Report

Bernard NkuyubwatsiSupervisors: Professor Grainne Conole Dr Palitha Edirisingha Institute of Learning InnovationUniversity of Leicester

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Educational Resources (OER) for Widening Participation in Rwandan Higher Education

www.le.ac.ukAbout this presentation The context of the studyResearch questionsResearch MethodsThe pilot study resultsFeasibilityConclusionThe Context of the Study

Source: Wikipedia

OER Repository World MapMap by Atenas and Havemann (n.d.) CC BY-NC-SA.

MOOC World mapMap by OpenUCT Initiative (2013), CC-BY-SA

The conceptual frameworkThe OER emerged in the 2002 UNESCO meeting (Paris)Teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.2011 Paris OER declarationOER and Open Ed DeclarationsArticle 26.1 of the universal declaration of human rights: everyone has the right to education (United Nations, 1949).

The Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001): the learning of the rich shared with the poor and that of the poor with the rich (Open Society Foundations, 2002).

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration (2007): A call for stakeholders to remove barriers to education (Shuttleworth Foundation and OSF, 2007)

Trends of access to educationCommonwealth of Learning and UNESCO (2011) predicts the global higher education demand to grow from 165 million in 2011 to 263 million in 2025 (59% increase in 15 years).

Sir John Daniel: 4X30000/week between 2011 and 2025 (Mandell and Travers, 2012).

From OER to MOOCsOER movement 2008: Connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs)

MOOC popularity: 2011 with Extension MOOCs (xMOOCs)

Online, non-selective and tuition- free courses that are usually addressed to a global audience of students (Nkuyubwatsi, 2013).

Interaction and learningMoores (1989) 3 types of interaction: Learner-content interactionLearner-teacher interactionLearner-peers

Hillman et al. (1994) add learner-interface interaction

Andersons (2003) deduces interactivity theorem from Moores three types of interaction

Research question for Phase 1Overarching question: How can OER and MOOCs be integrated into Rwandan higher education to facilitate widening participation?Subsidiary questions: What OER units can be used in Rwandan higher education?How can these units be use in Rwandan higher education?What MOOCs can be used in Rwandan higher education?How can these courses be used in Rwandan higher education?

Research Question Phase 2Overarching Question: What is the OER and MOOC readiness for stakeholders in Rwandan Higher Education?

Subsidiary questions:What is the readiness for students?What is the readiness for academics ?What is the readiness for the UR s leaders?What is the readiness for the HEC?What is the readiness for the Government (through the Ministry of Education)? Research MethodsParadigm: towards subjectivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology.

Design: An Interpretive research design: Flexible

OER/MOOCs is dynamic field

Rwanda: The country of reforms in educationPhase 1 of data collectionStudy: 10 MOOCs and 10 OER units.

Immersed participant-observer (MOOCs)Archive analyst (OER)

Source: Coursera and MIT Open Courseware.

construct validity and reliability : Yin (2009) principles: multiple sources of evidence, databases and chain of evidence.

Phase 2 of data collectionWith stakeholders in Rwandan higher educationStudents: Focus group

Academics: focus group

URs leaders

Policy makers (Government): focus groups MINEDUC

Accrediting body (HEC)Methodology

MOOC and OER evaluation rubrics for data gathering,Nvivo for data analysis,A cross-sectional and pattern/theme linking,Piloted: 5 MOOCs and 5 OER unitsEthical Approval:University of Leicester ethical approvalDiscussion of the pilot study results1. What OER units can be used in Rwandan higher education? Building and Leading Effective Teams (BLET), Computer Game Simulation for Investigation and Education(CGSIE) Developmental Entrepreneurship (DE) &Internet Technology in Local and Global Communities (ITLGC).

2. How can these units be use in Rwandan higher education? BLET and CGSIE standalone units but to be enhanced,DE and ITLGC: granular level

3. What MOOCs can be used in Rwandan higher education?

All the five MOOCs.

4. How can these courses be used in Rwandan higher education?

Standalone units in a module

The appropriateness of MOOCs Rwandan higher educationMOOCLevelCreditAIP Undergrad4DIINC Undergrad3IHTS Undergrad4ILTEIPostgraduate7LSIO Postgraduate8The appropriateness of OERs Rwandan higher educationOER UnitLevelCreditBLET Postgraduate4CGSIEPostgraduate5DE UndergraduateNAITLGCUndergraduateNAMIE Post GraduateNAEvaluation of MOOCs from the learners perspectiveHuman-human Interaction: limited and hard to handle. Human-content interaction: can be maximizedHuman-Interface: Students control the language in xMOOC: speech rate and subtitles,Students can pause videos anytime This control empower students in their learning

MOOC and OER potential in Rwandan Higher EdAvailability free of charge:Addressing the lack of access to learning resources and education in Rwanda.MOOCs Scalability:Mitigation of the shortage of tertiary education teachers in Rwanda.Diversity in terms of participants:Multicultural literacy development in Rwanda.

FeasibilityAccess to MOOCs ad OER unitsNetworked to stakeholders in Rwandan higher educationTimeline:Activities10/13-4/1410/14- 3/154/15-9/153 chapters, Phase 1 of collection & analysisPhase 2 of data collection & write upFeedback, editing, submission & vivaCurrent progressIn phase 1 of data collection: Completed 7 (-1) MOOCs for the main study and will complete the 8th next week.

Still have to take 3 more MOOCs

Authored 2 papers on MOOCs

ConclusionMy research is follows an interpretive design.

Ten MOOCs and ten OER units in Phase 1 of data collection

I am a participant observer (MOOC) and archive analyst (OER).

Stakeholders in Rwandan higher education will participate in Phase 2 of data collection

The pilot study promise the potential contribution of OER and MOOCs to widening participation in Rwanda.

Thank you!