Oer fiji book

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This publication is available in Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/igo/).
A Guide Book for Fiji
By Matai Tagicaki

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Published in 2016 by the Fiji Higher Education Commission, 22 Gorrie Street First Floor
Red Cross Building, Suva Fiji Islands and Ministry of Education Fiji, Marela House, Fiji
Islands.
Authored by Matai Naisa Tagicaki
© Fiji Higher Education Commission 2016
ISBN 978-982-98132-1-3
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/igo/). The designations employed
and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression
of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Fiji Higher Education Commission concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning
the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this
publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of FHEC and do not
commit the Organization.
Front Cover photo: Melaia Sinukakala Tagicaki CC BY-SA 2.0
OER Logo and Banner: Melaia Sinukakala Tagicaki CC BY-SA 2.0
Cover design: Matai Tagicaki
Typeset: Matai Tagicaki
Published online by: FHEC
Published in Fiji

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to the following people who have contributed great
knowledge towards the development of OER Fiji. Their continuous mentoring,
assistance and support, has brought an idea to reality for all Fijians.
1. Mrs Salote Rabuka
2. Professor Asha Kanwar
3. Dr Shikha Raturi
4. Ian Thompson
5. Dr Abel Caine
6. Dr Venkataraman Balaji
7. Dr Sanjaya Mishra
8. Commonwealth Of Learning, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
9. Ministry of Education Fiji
Vinakavakalevu.
___________________
Matai. N. Tagicaki
ICT Education Technologist | Fiji Higher Education Commission
2016

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CONTENT
1. Introduction
2. Glossary of Terms
3. Strategic Statement
i. Vision
ii. Mission
iii. Philosophy
iv. Values
4. What are OER?
5. Why do we need to know about OER?
6. How can we use OER?
7. How is OER relevant to Fiji?
8. How can Fijians benefit from OER?
9. How does OER help our communities?
10.What is Creative Commons Licensing?
11.Conclusion

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1. Open Educational Resources (OER): OER are teaching, learning and research
materials in any medium that reside in the public domain and have been released
under an open licence that permits access, use, repurposing, reuse and
redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions (Atkins, Brown & Hammond,
2007). The use of open technical standards improves access and reuse
potential. OER can include full courses/programmes, course Materials, modules,
student guides, teaching notes, textbooks, research articles, videos, assessment
tools and instruments, interactive materials such as simulations and role plays,
databases, software, apps (including mobile apps) and any other educationally
useful materials. The term ‘OER’ is not synonymous with online learning,
eLearning or mobile learning. Many OER — while shareable in a digital format —
are also printable.
(UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning 2011, 2015, Pp V.).
2. Public Domain: Belonging or available to the public as a whole, creative materials not
protected by intellectual property law like Copyright or exclusive intellectual property
rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable.
3. Open License: Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the Open Source
Definition — in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. To be
approved by the Open Source Initiative (also known as the OSI), a license must go
through the Open Source Initiative's license review process.
(https://opensource.org/licenses, 2016)
4. Creative Commons Licenses (CC): Creative Common copyright licenses and tools
forge a balance inside the traditional “all rights reserved” setting that copyright law
creates. Our tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and
institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative
work. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/, 2016)
5. Remix: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, while
keeping the original text or creation add something more to the original creation.
6. Share: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, copy
and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
7. Adapt: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, remix,
transform, and build upon the material.
8. Tweak: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, making
minor or small changes to the original work.
9. Build Upon: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, the
user may add and develop onto the original or borrowed work.

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10. Attribution: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work, you
must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes
were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests
the licensor endorses you or your use.
11. Non-Commercial: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed
work, the work borrowed may not be used for commercial purposes.
12. Commercial: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work,
may be used for commercial purposes.
13. No Derivatives: In this context refers to an Author who will be using a CC licensed work,
if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified
material.
To have a more informative explanation of the Creative Commons terms used here
please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

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INTRODUCTION
The global shift in the technological paradigm, has Fiji aggressively blending traditional
with modern social changes, embracing the socio-economic and technological
challenges that comes with change. This is apparent in the diverse National ICT
infrastructure emerging in the last 10 years. Today technology has become a big part of
our everyday life in villages, semi-rural and urban communities.
These changes has contributed to our decisions through accessible information in all
sectors of our society. Fiji is experiencing a very exciting moment in being part of Pacific
and Global history. In braving the digital frontier, the Fijian nation has become very
receptive in the unavoidable emergence of 21st century knowledge, skills and practice.
Acknowledging that technology has created a culture of global necessity, coined
through the evolution of digital and technological advances, Fiji citizens, with their
government have accepted the need to keep up with and adopt to adapt technological
practices to meet a competitive global socio-
economical diverse market.
In doing so, a need is realised to reflect public
funded learning Institutions are enabled to provide
Fiji citizens with dynamically accessible, quality,
affordable and free educational resources for
teaching and learning. With this in mind, this book
refers to all levels of society where teaching and learning is practiced, e.g. K12 system,
Higher Education Institutions, Industries or on the Job training, Community learning
Centers and continuous life learning programs.
Open Educational Resources is a global concept that will definitely provide all Fijians
the intellectual tools, intellectual equipment and support to work towards achieving a
competitive edge with 21st Century Knowledge and skills. In the following pages I shall
attempt to address the HOW, WHAT AND WHY questions of OER for Fiji, and therefore
my purpose for this guide book, is to inform the Citizens of Fiji about Open Education
Resources. In attempting to do so, I shall dwell in answering the following questions:
i. What are OER?
ii. Why do we need to know about OER?
iii. How can we use OER?
iv. How is OER relevant to Fiji?

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v. How can Fijian’s benefit from OER?
vi. How does OER help our communities?

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STRATEGIC STATEMENT
VISION – To ensure that all Fijians access quality, affordable, free and up to date
Educational Resources.
MISSION – We are committed to achieving our vision by working collaboratively with
global partners, public and government stakeholders, local communities and societies
by providing Knowledge Management repositories, E learning Platforms, open
international participation, support and providing consultation.
PHILOSOPHY – Open Education Resources is essential for social, economic, political
and cultural progress as it provides all Fijians access to quality, affordable, free, up to
date teaching learning resources and providing 21st century knowledge and skills
information, contributing to the nations endeavor in creating a knowledge society.
VALUES –
Quality and excellence
Equity and access
Free intellectual inquiry
Critical thinking and creativity
Lifelong learning
Responsiveness to changing needs technology
Good governance
Alignment with national and international imperatives
Open access
Partnerships
Building a culture of peace and respect for each other
Moral and values education
Quality through Process

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What are OER?
According to the UNESCO (www.unesco.org, 2016), “Open Educational Resources
(OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or
introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that
anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OERs range
from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects,
audio, video and animation.” (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-
information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources/what-are-open-
educational-resources-oers/, 2016).
‘Any type of material’ refers to hand written text, computer typed text, short or long
video, hand drawn or digitally designed and photographic picture, publically funded
educational materials like textbooks and the curriculum, voice recorded instruction,
written music, recorded music and song, originally composed music, recorded and
written speech and any other resources purposefully or adopted for educational purpose
made freely accessible to the general public that is LICENSED UNDER OPEN
LICENSES or LICENSED UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS.
Initially, OER referred to mostly digitally produced materials,
to day OER materials are also in print form, which allows
digital resources to be concerted in printed form, as long as
the Open License used on the document is clearly visible on
the second page of the resource, or just clearly marked to
inform uses and the public.
The second part of the above definition discusses the nature of ‘openness’
characterizing these materials, and this gets everyone
debating the meaning and purpose of Open Materials. It is
mainly because of the lack of information and assumption
that have most people misinformed in their conclusion. The
purpose of this book is attempt to provide Fiji Citizens who
are searching for a common source of quality resources,
free and affordable solution.
Why do we need to know about OER?
The search for knowledge is an ongoing endeavor for all humanity. Knowledge
Management for Development is a global movement today because of the great
accumulation of knowledge through decades of human activity. A big challenge for any

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community around the world through history, was equitable access to quality and
affordable educational resource for development. The emergence of 21st Century
Technology, the integration of technology and
education has brought about the emergence of a global
culture of collaboration and sharing of knowledge, ideas
and resources.
Open Educational Resources is all about collaboration
and sharing, Knowledge Management for development,
providing equitable access to free, affordable and
quality resources for all humanity. We need to know
about OER for it offers Fiji citizens a non-prejudicial access to up to date learning and
teaching resources from around the world, for Educators and none Educators alike.
OER provides our citizens in rural and remote schools the opportunity to access current
educational resources in text, audio and video format through the internet or through
wireless offline devices.
How can we use OER?
Open educational Resources can be downloaded, retweaked, printed, distributed as
textbook, used as learning resources, used as teaching resources, reused and build
upon resource and contextualized to suit the cultural and social back drop. These
resources can be used for course content, industrial and corporate training resources,
inter government or government reference for research or general information.
How is OER relevant to Fiji?
Fiji is a third world developing Nation, and needs all the resource, global support and
collaboration to raise the level of accessing quality education information. Considering
the availability of 21st century technology that will provide access to recent, up to date
quality knowledge, Fiji has the capacity and capability to
provide relevant knowledge for development in all
sectors of our governance. OER can also develop
bridging platform for network and capacity building with
possible partners around the world through knowledge
sharing.

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How may Fijians benefit from OER?
Fijians will have the opportunity to access a wealth of knowledge that will add value and
quality to everyday life. Ordinary Fijians will have the opportunity to tap into 21st Century
information on skills and training. With the emergence of new learning experiences, self-
learning, adaptive learning, Andragogy and Heutagogy to
name a few, every Fijian can access OER anytime
anywhere on the internet through their mobile phones,
tablets or laptops. From ‘how to do it yourself’ Youtube
video’s to Khans Academy Video’s and repositories such
provided by Commonwealth of Learning. A Fijian has the
ability of knowledge self-empowerment through Open
Education resources.
How does OER help our communities?
Fijian communities in rural and remote regions, have
the capability for capacity building in all endeavor of
community development, from subsistence farming,
small business schemes, and backyard industry to
setting up a community TVET Center to support
youth school dropouts, by accessing Open
Education Resources. These information are
available in online repositories and also audio visual
via Youtube and Khans Academy.
What is Creative Commons Licensing?
It is important to point out first that all creative work is Copyrighted ‘BY DEFAULT’. What
this means is that, when a group or an individual begin or have completed creative
work, it automatically becomes Copyrighted work.
According to Creative Commons “All Creative Commons licenses have many important
features in common. Every license helps creators — we call them licensors if they use
our tools — retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some
uses of their work — at least non-commercially. Every Creative Commons license also
ensures licensors get the credit for their work they deserve. Every Creative Commons
license works around the world and lasts as long as applicable copyright lasts (because
they are built on copyright). These common features serve as the baseline, on top of

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which licensors can choose to grant additional permissions when deciding how they
want their work to be used.” (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/, 2016)
There are six Creative Commons Licenses that you choose on how you would like your
work to be used, reused or adapted, just as I have chosen to license this book.
The following table shows the six licenses and the description of each license –
License Type License Logo
1. Attribution
CC BY –
This license lets others distribute, remix,
tweak, and build upon your work, even
commercially, as long as they credit you for
the original creation. This is the most
accommodating of licenses offered.
Recommended for maximum dissemination
and use of licensed materials.
2. Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-SA –
This license lets others remix, tweak, and
build upon your work even for commercial
purposes, as long as they credit you and
license their new creations under the identical
terms. This license is often compared to
“copyleft” free and open source software
licenses. All new works based on yours will
carry the same license, so any derivatives will
also allow commercial use. This is the license
used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for
materials that would benefit from
incorporating content from Wikipedia and
similarly licensed projects.
3. Attribution-NoDerivs
CC BY-ND –
This license allows for redistribution,
commercial and non-commercial, as long as
it is passed along unchanged and in whole,
with credit to you.

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4. Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC –
build upon your work noncommercially, and
although their new works must also
acknowledge you and be non-commercial,
they don’t have to license their derivative
works on the same terms.
5. Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA –
build upon your work non-commercially, as
long as they credit you and license their new
creations under the identical terms.
6. Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND –
This license is the most restrictive of our six
main licenses, only allowing others to
download your works and share them with
others as long as they credit you, but they
can’t change them in any way or use them
commercially.

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Conclusion
Accessing resources to add value to knowledge is not a challenge anymore with the
availability of ICT, but a reality that must be realised and exploited by Fiji citizens. We
search for quality for our students, organize knowledge in repositories, or hard copies in
Libraries, and to ensure that the correct standard of quality information are accessed by
our students, educational institutions filter and categorize information to share, or use
existing quality assurance processes to standardize quality.
OER offers a platform that allow Educators and community members alike to access
quality informative resources to empower individuals and groups. Educators and
learners can become dynamic knowledge creators by publishing and referencing related
work without the trouble of copyright restrictions, allowing a dynamic network of
knowledge sharing, therefore show casing Fiji to the world as an empowered Nation of
Knowledge creators, developers and collaborators.
Higher education systems play major roles in social development and national
economic competitiveness. Almost all HEI’s are incorporating information and
communication technology (ICT) into their management, administration and educational
programs, to which I may assume, is to provide quality service to students. In many
developing countries, however, access to hardware, software and connectivity remain a
challenge, therefore it is critical to continue research and development in OER, because
OER offers free, affordable, quality and accessible Education Resources from around
the world and renowned Education Institutions.
For every journey there is a purpose, for every purpose there are expectations, with
every expectations there are outcomes. The process of any journey will define the
quality of all expected output. It is therefore important to develop a culture of quality
through processes. Open Education Resources offers an effective guide through this
journey in the 21st Century.

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REFERENCE
1. UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning 2011, 2015, Pp V
2. Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007.
3. https://opensource.org/licenses, 2016.
4. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-
knowledge/open-educational-resources/what-are-open-educational-resources-
oers/, 2016.

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