Producing Open Educational Resources From Scratch: The Case Of Health Sciences At University Of Ghana And Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology

Abstract

This chapter looks at the production and promotion of health open educational resources (OER) at the University of Ghana (UG) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Both institutions initially chose to produce materials from scratch rather than build upon existing OER, and then subsequently shared the materials through a global distribution network to advance health education across the continent. Their aim was to use OER to offset the challenges of an ever-increasing number of students, inadequate faculty size, insufficient funding for educational materials and equipment, limited physical and technical infrastructure, curriculum gaps and low research capacity. To create and publicly share educational materials, both universities undertook a number of activities to strengthen their professional, policy and technological infrastructures. Participants discussed the importance of clear copyright ownership and informed consent policies, the skills required to produce OER, incentives for authors, and ways to ensure efficiency of production as well as good quality in the materials produced. In the OER production processes that emerged, health science lecturers develop the educational content, but OER media specialists assist with photos, videos and sound, and employ basic instructional design principles to package effective learning materials. The OER are shared through multiple distribution methods for ease of access across the universities, the continent and the world. KNUST and UG have demonstrated that it is possible for resource-constrained African institutions to create effective, world-class electronic learning modules that are relevant to their needs and also beneficial to other universities. This resource is also available at http://open.umich.edu/education/med/oernetwork/reports/ghana-chapter-col/2012/materials.