This book explores the state of open education in terms of self-directed learning on the African continent. Through a combination of conceptual, systematic literature review and empirical chapters, readers will get a research-based impression of these aspects in this area. Apart from presenting existing wider trends regarding open education, this book also reports on effective open practices in support of self-directed learning.

This book offers an important overview of technology-enhanced education in Southern Africa. With original research from Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, this book provides in-depth scientific scholarship focused on the dynamic multimodal learning environments in the region. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has largely had to adjust to remotelearning. Hence, the editors and contributors pull together important research on digital pedagogies and assessment to demonstrate how technology can be effectively employed for multimodal learning environments within the Southern African context. This book will be of interest and value to scholars of digital education, multimodal learning and education within Southern Africa and beyond.

This book relates to the experiences and initiatives of teacher education institutions in the Southern Africa region to empower teachers to cope with teaching and learning in the digital age. The book covers the impacts of digital technologies on the teaching and learning process. Online and blended learning, digital pedagogies, the design of curricula and learning experiences to address the learning needs and profile of learners are considered in this book. Furthermore, the way in which pre- and in-service teachers learn about alternative modes of assessment will also be considered. In this regard, innovative concepts such as renewable and situated assessments, multimodal assessments, digital storytelling and e-portfolios, amongst others, were explored.

This book relates to the experiences and initiatives of teacher education institutions in the Southern Africa region to empower teachers to cope with teaching and learning in the digital age. The book covers the impacts of digital technologies on the teaching and learning process. Online and blended learning, digital pedagogies, the design of curricula and learning experiences to address the learning needs and profile of learners are considered in this book. Furthermore, the way in which pre- and in-service teachers learn about alternative modes of assessment will also be considered. In this regard, innovative concepts such as renewable and situated assessments, multimodal assessments, digital storytelling and e-portfolios, amongst others, were explored. 

This book explores open educational resources and open education through research conducted on this topic globally. This book engages with intersections between open educational resources, social justice and equality, as well as policy in terms of open educational resources. Numerous examples of open praxis are also included, ranging from open educational resources courses to the affordances of artificial intelligence, data-driven learning, and open textbooks in this context. Furthermore, chapters range from providing a broad overview of open educational resources international and regional initiatives in Africa, to cases of work done in the United States, New Zealand, Israel, and Hong Kong. The role of Wikipedia and Wikidata is also prominent. Finally, this book includes unique contributions, focusing on open educational resources and feminist pedagogy, as well as disabled learners’ motivations for participating in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Academics and researchers working in the field of open education and higher education in general will understand the importance of this work.

This book explores the state of open education in terms of self-directed learning on the African continent. Through a combination of conceptual, systematic literature review and empirical chapters, readers will get a research-based impression of these aspects in this area. Apart from presenting existing wider trends regarding open education, this book also reports on effective open practices in support of self-directed learning.