This book covers original research on the implementation of open educational practices through the use of open educational resources at the university level. The emphasis on open education in this book is on contextualising resources, supporting student agency and fostering self-directed learning specifically within a South African milieu. The envisaged chapters cover conceptual and review research and empirical work focussing on open educational practices and the use of renewable assessments. The work starts off with an overview of an institutional-wide open education project that prompted the research followed by research on open education in terms of various modules in the health science, music education, law, philosophy, dietetics, anthropology, French language learning, journalism and political science. There is a clear gap in the literature on open education in terms of open educational practices, specifically in terms of contextualising resources, supporting student agency and fostering self-directed learning in a South African context. Despite the existence of some general works on open education in terms of policy, social justice and open textbooks, this book will be unique in exploring the intersections of openness, specifically with contextualisation, student agency and self-directedness.

When open educational resources (OERs) and open pedagogy are explored in the context of Lebanon and South Africa, this concept should be considered within a wider open education movement. This movement is specifically associated with the emergence of open and distance learning in higher education and also the emergence of open licensing and open source when it comes to computer software.

Central to this book is the concept of OERs and this is generally understood in terms of the UNESCO (2019) definition of it being “learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others”. This fairly broad definition emphasises the different purposes OERs may serve, the variety of formats and especially the importance of licensing and adaptability inherent to such resources. In a systematic review of research done on open pedagogy (Clinton-Lisell, 2021), open pedagogy mainly involved for example students creating openly licensed materials or renewable assignments and it was clear that students and teachers perceived this as being very positive.

This book explores the current state of OERs and open pedagogy in terms of practices and the latest in research in both Lebanon and South Africa. It relates to open pedagogy, which despite no common agreement regarding the definition (Tietjen & Asino, 2021), but broadly relates to “teaching and learning techniques made possible through open licensing” (Clinton-Lisell, 2021, p. 256). Lessons from open educational resources (OERs) and open pedagogy practices are derived from Lebanon and South Africa. Despite, the fact that these two countries are different, there are some parallels in terms of historical conflicts, diversity, and socio- economic divides. South Africa also has a sizeable community of people from Lebanese origin and hence ties between the countries extend more than a century.

Openly published book
Title: Self-directed multimodal learning in higher education
Editor: Jako Olivier
Publisher: AOSIS, Cape Town, South Africa
ISBN: 978-1-928523-42-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2020.BK210
Date of publication: 2020

This book aims to provide an overview of theoretical and practical considerations in terms of self-directed multimodal learning within the university context. Multimodal learning is approached in terms of the levels of multimodality and specifically blended learning and the mixing of modes of delivery (contact and distance education). As such, this publication will provide a unique snapshot of multimodal practices within higher education through a self-directed learning epistemological lens. The book covers issues such as what self-directed multimodal learning entails, mapping of specific publications regarding blended learning, blended learning in mathematics, geography, natural science and computer literacy, comparative experiences in distance education as well as situated and culturally appropriate learning in multimodal contexts.
This book provides a unique focus on multimodality in terms of learning and delivery within the context of self-directed learning. Therefore, the publication would not only advance the scholarship of blended and open distance learning in South Africa, but also the contribute to enriching the discourse regarding self-direction. From this book readers will get an impression of the latest trends in literature in terms of multimodal self-directed learning in South Africa as well as unique empirical work being done in this regard.