Siyavula

At this year’s OpenEd Conference in Vancouver, Canada, considerations around user engagement, community building, and communicating the benefits of open to teachers and learners drove much of the discussions. Siyavula’s own panel presentation addressed Siyavula’s accomplishments to date and interventions going forward from a strategy perspective (discussed by Mark Horner), technology perspective (discussed by Kathi Fletcher and Joel Thierstein from Connexions), and research perspective (discussed by me, Cynthia Jimes from ISKME). The panel presentation created a good amount of buzz, specifically around Siyavula’s community-building work with teachers, as well the research ISKME has conducted to date to inform the implementation of the Siyavula model.

For the research portion of the panel, I shared findings from Phase I of ISKME’s research, which entailed site visits to both under- and well-resourced South African schools, interviews with teachers, principals, school district administrators and curriculum experts, a survey of teachers (n=201), and observations of Siyavula’s professional development workshops. The specific purpose of the research has been to examine the curriculum and curriculum development needs of teachers and education stakeholders specific to the South African context, and to assess the perceived and potential benefits and challenges of creating, using and implementing OER in the classroom within the Siyavula model.

On the panel, I specifically discussed ISKME’s research findings regarding the need for open educational resources by South African teachers, the presence of offline curriculum development activities and teacher communities that can be leveraged to support online activities, and potential barriers to the adoption of Siyavula by teachers, including limited computer and Internet access and low technological efficacy. Highlights from the research portion of the panel included:

• Evidence that there is a need for what Siyavula offers: 68 percent of South African teachers participating in the survey reported that they face challenges in terms of not having the curriculum materials they need
  
• Evidence of offline “OER behaviors” in place: 74 percent of teachers participating in the survey reported they discuss materials informally with colleagues, and 72 percent reported they have shared materials with other teachers. Additionally, 83 percent reported that they combine materials with other types of materials, and 65 percent modify materials to meet their needs
  
• Potential barriers to Siyavula adoption: Only 32 percent of participating teachers were reported to have Internet at their schools (limited access to technology), and 20 percent of teachers reported that they do not know what email is (low technological self efficacy)

In closing the research discussion, I presented opportunities stemming from ISKME’s findings, including the need for Siyavula to:

• Leverage already existing communities of teachers working collaboratively
• Further support teachers’ existing use, reuse, remix and sharing behaviors
• Support workarounds for teachers without access to computers and the Internet
• Integrate discussions of cultural barriers and basic technology skills training into teacher workshops

Both during and after the presentation, participants expressed enthusiasm for the research being conducted on Siyavula and pointed to the need for more OER research in general, specifically on how teachers and learners are already using curriculum materials and collaborating with peers, as a way to understand how current practices can be leveraged to support online OER behaviors.

Post a comment or question to this blog by leaving a reply below. For more information about the research portion of the panel presentation at OpenEd 2009, contact Cynthia Jimes at cynthia@iskme.org. To download the full panel presentation, click here.