COL HOSTED A STRATEGY MEETING TO LAUNCH ITS OERs FOR OPEN SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
COL has received a grant of US $750,000 from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a major initiative in support of open schools in developing countries. The two-year programme will focus on developing and sharing open educational resources (OERs) for secondary education, the professional development of teachers in the effective use of technology in classrooms and creating learner support material for teachers.
The OERs will be developed by educators from five countries - India, Lesotho, Namibia, Seychelles and Trinidad & Tobago - in collaboration with COL. The new self-instructional learning materials will be appropriate for the existing secondary education curriculum and will be suited to developing country circumstances. All learning materials will be freely available in print and/or digital formats and will be designed for use in both open and conventional schools. The project also involves the training of 100 Master Teachers who will train groups of other teachers in their countries and support online materials development. Learner support materials will also be developed for teachers.
The OERs for open schools initiative complements several ongoing research activities and the development of resource materials for open school managers and policymakers that COL has recently undertaken as a part of its open schooling programme (see "New Resources" on page 15).
Open schools are increasingly recognised as a solution to the growing demand for secondary school education in developing countries. As primary school enrolments grow due to successful efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education, many nations are unable to accommodate the corresponding increase in potential secondary school students. For instance, the Gross Enrolment Rate for secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa is just 30 percent, less than half the world average of 65 percent. By providing teachers in developing countries with new technologies, tools and skills, COL is helping to increase access to quality education while increasing student achievement.
www.col.org/OpenSchooling