Title: Toolkit for academics on Open Educational Resources released
Publisher: Information Society Division of UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector
Date (published): 01/10/2009
Date (accessed): 20/12/2009
Type of information: toolkit/wiki
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
In October 2009, the UNESCO OER Toolkit (with support from the UNESCO Communications and Information Sector) was released as a resource for academics and institutions - with a special focus on developing countries - who are interested in participating in open education projects.

Most of the Toolkit is designed for academics who are interested in finding and using OER in the courses they teach, or who wish to publish OER that they have developed. Some sections are aimed at institutional decision-makers and academics interested in setting up a more formal OER project. These projects may start with just a few interested academics but, as they grow, institutional policies, funding and legal constraints become more relevant.

Individuals who are not aiming to set up an institutional project may nonetheless be interested to read the whole document. Likewise, institutional planners, IT staff or librarians who are interested in setting up an OER project would benefit from understanding the academic's perspective.

The drafting and review has been a real community effort, and UNESCO would like to thank all who sent suggestions, made edits to the draft, or provided assistance in other ways.

Finally, this is also a reminder that the Toolkit remains a work in progress. As the OER world develops, and we explore new opportunities (and hopefully learn from mistakes) the document should change and evolve with our work. It's a wiki and you can edit it!

Title: How do you evaluate a plan like Ceibal?
Author: Michael Trucano
Source: EduTech
Publisher: The World Bank Group
Date (published): 11/12/2009
Date (accessed): 16/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
If you have had your fill of theories and promises about what the widespread diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) might mean for teaching and learning practices across an entire education system and want to see what actual practice looks like, a trip to Montevideo (or better yet, one of the regions outside the Uruguayan capital) should be high on your list.

Under Plan Ceibal (earlier blog post here), Uruguay is the first country in the world to ensure that all primary school students (or at least those in public schools) have their own personal laptop. For free. (The program is being extended to high schools, and, under a different financial scheme, to private schools as well). Ceibal is about more than just 'free laptops for kids', however.

Title: Increasing education access through open and distance learning in Tanzania: A critical review of approaches and practices
Author: Willy L.M. Komba
ISBN: 1814-0556
Source: International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, Vol. 5, No. 5 (2009)
Publisher: International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology
Date (published): 24/10/2009
Date (accessed): 12/12/2009
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
With an area of 943,000 square kilometers, Tanzania has a population of about 34 million comprising more than 120 ethnic groups with diverse cultures and notable income differentials. Over 35 per cent of the people live below the poverty line which makes it difficult for an increasing number of people to access education at secondary, tertiary and higher education levels. The universalization of education and its worldwide acceptance as a continuous or lifelong undertaking, coupled with concerns about educational access and equity, as well as the prevailing level of poverty necessitates the use of various education delivery approaches to enable all citizens to benefit from this public good. The major objective of this paper is to document an discuss the initiatives that Tanzania has taken to expand educational opportunities at various levels using open and distance learning (ODL) approaches. The paper begins by explaining the socio-political context for ODL in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar and proceeds to recount the distance education initiatives that have been established over time using both the longstanding traditional technologies and new media and technology. It then analyzes the opportunities and challenges in these initiatives. It ends with the proposal of how to improve both access and the quality of education using emerging educational technologies.

Title: The Open University UK: creating a win-win situation by sharing code and content
Author: Gregor Bierhals
Pages: 12 pp.
Source: Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR), osor.eu
Publisher: IDABC
Date (published): 27/10/2009
Date (accessed): 12/12/2009
Type of information: case study
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML, pdf, odt)
Abstract:
In 2005 The Open University (OU) UK, one of Europe's largest distance learning universities, established that it was time to deploy a new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), for both The Open University itself as well as for their OpenLearn project aimed at providing free open educational resources (OER) to the general public. A team with different sub-tasks was formed, which investigated future learning environments and how learning material was presented and disseminated through those. Next to this, the OU also researched open learning models, as part of the OpenLearn project. The team of researchers and technical staff, after setting out the components required to meet the OU's needs the most appropriate match was determined. The choice fell on the VLE Moodle, which is an open source product. Today the Moodle VLE has been successfully implemented at the OU and the OU has further published a significant amount of their learning material under a Creative Commons license as courses on the Moodle VLE based OpenLearn website, which are freely available to anyone interested. The OU continues to collaborate closely with the Moodle community , as this provides a very large platform for feedback and information. All the OU's development are given back to the Moodle community, which improves the product for the OU and the rest of the community.

Title: Comparing ICT use in education across countries
Author: Michael Trucano
Source: EduTech
Publisher: # The World Bank Group
Date (published): 04/12/2009
Date (accessed): 10/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
At a fundamental level, attempts to answer many of the pressing policy questions we have about the use of ICTs in educational settings around the world -- and the impact of such use -- are complicated by the fact that we still do not have reliable, globally comparable data in this area. As hard as it may be to believe -- especially given the large investments being made in this area and the increasing strategic importance of this topic in many countries -- basic answers to many basic questions about the use of technology in schools around the world remain largely unanswered. Such questions include:

* How many schools are connected to the Internet (and what is the quality of that connection)?
* How many teachers have been trained to use ICTs?
* How many schools have access to sufficient reliable power?
* How many computers are being used for learning purposes in schools?
* In what subjects are computers meant to be used, and to what extent?

This is about to change.

In Montevideo (Uruguay) this week, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) convened representatives from statistical bodies from around the world to review results of a 25-country pilot project exploring just what types of national-level data related to ICT use in education can be reliably collected.

Title: ICT4D for Women: Opportunities and Risks
Author: Aparna Ray
Source: Global Voices Online
Date (published): 07/12/2009
Date (accessed): 07/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"As digital technologies open up new spaces and possibilities, there is a lot of optimism about empowerment of women, and alleviation of gender disparity...As far as women’s empowerment at the bottom of the pyramid goes, the buzz has been more centered on mobile phones than computer-related ICTs...The world of ICT and gender remains a complex one. Where we have seen positive strides towards gender equality, we have also seen ICTs provide another space for the further marginalisation of women, and scope for exerting greater control, power and perpetrating violence against them."

Title: Guide to Measuring Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education
Pages: 139 pp.
ISBN: 978-92-9189-078-1
Publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
Date (published): 02/12/2009
Date (accessed): 07/12/2009
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
In a groundbreaking move to put in place internationally standardized methodologies and indicators to monitor the growing integration of information and communication technologies into education across countries, the UIS has released the Guide to Measuring Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education.

In addition to the UIS core set of indicators, this guide presents an expanded list to address a wide range of policy concerns in relation to the new paradigm of ICT-enhanced education service delivery. It will help to ensure consistent use and interpretation of ICT in education statistics among policymakers, statisticians, researchers, experts and statistical institutions across the world.

This technical paper should serve as a reference and training guide for collecting comparable data at the country level and for completing future UIS questionnaires on ICT in education. Given the rapidly evolving nature of this field, this is intended to be a living document that will be subject to future refinements.
(via http://twitter.com/pablarribas )

Title: The role of Social Entrepreneurs in Deploying ICTs for Youth and Community Development in South Africa
Author: Chijioke J. Evoh
ISBN: 1712-4441
Source: The Journal of Community Informatics; Vol 5, No 1 (2009)
Date (published): 22/07/2009
Date (accessed): 04/12/2009
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
This study presents the case study of an innovative program designed to use ICT to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged young people in Cape Town communities in South Africa. This study illustrates the methods and experiences of Ikamva Lisezandleni Zethu, a youth organization that harnesses the potential of ICT for educational, youth and community development in South Africa. The case highlights the best practices of social entrepreneurship with less financial and technological resources within the context an African society. The major challenges facing the young organization are highlighted and its successes are also identified. The activities of the Ikamva youth organization reveal that, South Africa and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) need effective multilateral initiatives to meet their educational aspiration as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Rather, ICTs, if properly and innovatively applied by the public and the civil society groups, has the potential to improve the quality of and expand access to secondary education in Africa.

Title: Using mobiles for rural literacy and market information in Niger: Projet ABC/IMAC data sheet
Author: Joshua Haynes
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 02/12/2009
Date (accessed): 03/12/2009
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Projet Alphabétisation de Base par Cellulaire (ABC), conceived of and spearheaded by Tufts University professor Jenny Aker, uses mobiles phones as tools to aid in adult literacy acquisition in rural Niger.

Adult literacy in rural areas faces an inherent problem. In Niger, for example, there are no novels, newspapers, or journals in native languages like Hausa or Zarma. The 20% of Nigériens who are literate are literate in French. The vast majority of rural villagers have struggled to maintain their livelihoods since time immemorial without ever knowing how to read a single word. What’s the point of literacy if there is no need for written materials?

Title: ICTs in School Education - Outsourced versus Integrated Approach
Author: Gurumurthy Kasinathan
Pages: 4 pp.
Publisher: IT for Change (ITfC)
Date (published): 31/08/2009
Date (accessed): 02/12/2009
Type of information: policy brief
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
A number of state education departments in India are launching computer learning programmes in schools. The predominant model for this programme is to outsource the entire program to vendors. However a few states like Kerala have successfully insourced this program, by building in-house apacities to conduct this program. This paper "Policy Brief on ICTs in School Education", discusses outsourced versus integrated models in this area, drawing from our research in two states of India. The research learly demonstrates the superiority of integrated models to outsourced/PPP models. The implications of this study for policy are critical. This study can help education departments avoid the pitfalls experienced by earlier programs and help them make an informed choice in deciding a model for their computer learning program.