Utilizing open education resources to enhance students’ learning outcomes during the covid-19 schools lockdown: A case of using kolibri by selected government schools in uganda

Abstract

A preview of the international dashboard of trends in education suggests that Open Education Resources (OER) have and will continue to impact the provision of education during institutional closure owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, the toughest question that is often presented to OER promoters regards the pedagogical effectiveness of OER: If education resource users are not cognizant and do not pay for the production, distribution and utilization of the required resources, then, how can the production, distribution and utilization of such resources be effectively used? Basing on data obtained from the system (Kolibri) usage-logs and e-interviews (online conversational interviews) on Zoom which were conducted with twenty five (25) purposively selected teachers, and one hundred (100) students invited from 10 Government-Aided Secondary Schools in Uganda, this study presents a Discourse Analysis (DA) of teachers’ use of OER on Kolibri and draws on such insights gained to propose a potentially transformative model for efficient and effective utilization of OER to enhance students’ learning outcomes during the COVID-19 schools lockdown.