As an undergraduate who believes so much in holistic development beyond academics, to the point of going the extra mile to create a community for that cause, I spend a lot of my online-time looking out for chances that I can take to achieve this aim of being an all-round developed person. From trainings to bootcamps to online courses and even conferences.
At a point, I realised the need for projects that can actually get me to work and not just gather certificate without having a practical skill to show for it, and that was when I randomly came across Free Knowledge Africa’s Instagram post for the OER training program. Ordinarily, I’ve always been passionate about education, coupled with the fact that I am an educator and counsellor in training. In fact, I often say that I am seeing myself as more of an educationist than an educator because of how I express my displeasure in the way some things are being done in the system, and always suggesting better ways. Therefore, the training is a confluence to get the practical skill I want and also work on something I’ve always been passionate about, simultaneously.
With immediate effect, I registered and proceeded to share the link with friends, then two other people joined me. The first thing I loved about the training was the flexibility of the schedule; it was as though the organisers could see that I was spinning quite a number of wheels at that era of my life, before fixing the schedule. It was flexible and convenient, and that made the learning convenient.
During the training, we were introduced to Open Educational Resources, the Public domain, where to get OERs, and even how to create and publish them. This was a game-changer for me because I realised that my idea of what an OER is, is not what it is. What stood out for me was the realization that OERs can also be in video and audio format because, as a counsellor and educator-in-training, I’ve learnt about various types of learners (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic &, Multi-modal learners) and if we’re really going to improve accessibility in education, we should provide learning materials that students can study with based on the type of learner that they are.
You know what people say about preparation meeting opportunity and becoming “luck”? This is where it applies to my story. Out of curiosity, I was already working on a course we couldn’t finish in school during a previous semester, which was “Counselling Theories” — a fundamental and required knowledge in the study of counselling psychology. At the end of the OER training, interested trainees were asked to submit topics for a capstone project and what I did was to just submit this topic I was already working on, that was how I got picked with four other people. This project was fully funded by Free Knowledge Africa to enable selected participants get access to the required resources that will ensure a smooth process of completing our project.
In a bid to bridge the accessibility gap for Auditory and Visual learners, I decided to present my project in Video format. I never knew the process is going to be that hectic until I started. Gathering my content took few weeks, of course, I had to make research and then proceed to filter gathered information. I even sought guidance from my lecturer in school just to make sure the work is good to go. While the research was going on, I had already gotten the needed gadgets and accessories so I can have a smooth recording process. With the help of a friend, recording took a whole day, editing took a couple of days too and finally, my capstone project is ready.
The project was uploaded to YouTube few days later and honestly, this whole experience might have taken my time and energy but the joy I felt after completing it almost made me forget all the stress I had gone through. For the goal I hope to achieve — helping students understand theories through relatable examples and analogies, and the impact I hope to make with the project — fostering proper application of theories and not just cramming them to pass exams, I can scream on top of of my voice that “it’s worth it!”.
If there’s any other thing I’m happy about, it is that I didn’t just learn something new, I also worked for a cause I’m passionate about. I’m definitely going to continue creating OERs, this is not going go be the end.
You can access my OER through the link here
– MUDASHIRU IDRIS SEWANU
