Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Harnessing Open Educational Resources in Teacher Education in Zimbabwe: The Case Study of Zimbabwe Open University

Makamure Clemence

Open educational resources are a new paradigm that is hugely impacting and changing the mode of scholarly communication in Zimbabwe. The paradigm is based on the notion and belief that Scientists, scholars and academicians need to publish their findings and have them disseminated as widely as possible so that mankind can benefit from their research efforts. It is a paradigm that aims at enhancing knowledge and information sharing at unprecedented levels. As economic hardships continue to pierce into every sector of life in Africa, the need to learn while earning has rocked the hearts of many and this has created a fertile ground for the expansion of open educational resources in teacher education movement. This paper seeks to assess the importance of open educational resources in teacher education focusing on Zimbabwe Open University. Zimbabwe Open University is believed to be the largest university in Zimbabwe. This has been caused by its emphasis in the promotion, sharing and use of open educational resources (OER). The study is premised on the understanding that it is becoming difficulty for students to get into Conventional Universities given the economic hardship we face in the country today. It is against such an understanding that the paper would want to establish the importance of vindicating open educational resources in teaching and learning in Zimbabwe. The study is also informed by the contention that in Zimbabwe, even the Conventional universities are now also opting for block release programmes so as to give opportunity to students to access education while working. Vital to note is the contention that Block release is a form of learning which call for open educational resources so as to allow a wide access to information. Be that as it may, open educational resources are growing into becoming the best mode of learning in Zimbabwe. The paper is a qualitative analysis of the importance of harnessing open educational resources in teacher education. Interviews, document analysis and personal observations are to be used to triangulate data collection for this paper.