{"id":1839,"date":"2011-05-18T09:27:57","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2012-09-27T10:39:04","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:39:04","slug":"towards-free-learning-opportunities-for-all-students-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/digital-learning-resources\/towards-free-learning-opportunities-for-all-students-worldwide\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards Free Learning Opportunities for All Students Worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Information and communication technologies (ICTs) combined with the open intellectual property arrangements of Open Education Resources<\/a> (OER) and networked collaboration have the potential to change fundamental business models for the education sector in Africa. In this blog post I explore the contemporary challenges we face and the opportunities for using digital OERs to implement new models of educational provision in Africa. <\/p>\n

The concept of open education<\/i> encapsulates a simple but powerful idea that the world\u2019s knowledge is a public good and that the open web provides an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge. <\/p>\n

Internationally, the education sector is now exploring and implementing the potential of OER to provide free learning opportunities for all students worldwide. Africa has a unique opportunity to leverage the benefits of open education and digital ICTs in providing free learning opportunities for her learners, especially those students currently excluded from the formal sector.<\/p>\n

The problem<\/b><\/p>\n

Today, in Sub-Saharan Africa the majority of children of school going age will not have the privilege of completing the last three years of their schooling and very often do not have access to affordable textbooks. With reference to the higher education sector, Olugbemiro Jegede, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities reminds us that even if Africa were to build one new university per month, still this would not provide a cost-effective solution for the projected 7 million applicants who will be seeking university placements over the next 5 years. <\/p>\n

OER offers two significant business enablers for sustainable education futures:<\/p>\n