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14.08.2015 - Communication & Information Sector

UNESCO assists the Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to enhance Open Educational Resources (OER)

3rd NOUN OER Workshop, 27-31 July 2015, Lagos, Nigeria. CC BY Jane-Frances Agbu

As part of the UNESCO OER programme and within the framework of the implementation of the Paris OER Declaration adopted by Nigeria amongst other Member states of the Organization in 2012, UNESCO organized a two-day Open Educational Resources (OER) workshop at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Lagos on 28 and 29 July. This workshop aimed to improve the quality and access to higher education for thousands of Nigerian and African students.

The workshop was facilitated by Fred de Vries from the Open University of the Netherlands, with the purpose of:

  • providing technical training on how to convert course materials to OER and digital publishing;
  • designing an OER base template for multichannel publishing;
  • updating NOUN open license statement;
  • triggering the development of an institutional OER Policy for NOUN;
  • pursuing a well-defined implementation plan for transformation of NOUN course materials into OER.

With the support from UNESCO, the workshop was attended by 25 participants, including course writers, OER committee members and staff of NOUN OER unit.

Through the presentation and activities, the workshop identified the philosophy benefits of OER and presented the activities carried out by the NOUN-OER unit since it was launched in October 2014 with it first sensitisation workshop.

A post workshop briefing was held on the last day of the conference with some principal officers of NOUN in attendance. A work plan and recommendations were agreed upon:

  • development of a course on the basics of Word, including smart formatting  by the School of Science and Technology in collaboration with the ICT department;
  • readiness of the OER-team to offer walk-in sessions for NOUN course writers on formatting and styling of course materials for publishing as eBooks;
  • an approach to rework existing tables and drawings in the course materials in cooperation with the OER team and if necessary a graphic designer;
  • joining forces with the unit for Quality assurance, Directorate for Instructional Design and ICT unit;
  • the preparing of a policy on plagiarism, including the including of references and taking into account proper use of free and the use of external OER courses;
  • updating the current draft OER policy and presenting the finished version to the senate.

Through this workshop and as part of its continued efforts to promote the use of ICTs to ensure universal access to high quality education, UNESCO intended, to contribute to the building a sustainable social and economic development in Nigeria.




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