- Prof Mpine Makoe is the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Open Education Practices/ Resources at the University of So... moreProf Mpine Makoe is the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Open Education Practices/ Resources at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She is also a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated research professor in Open Distance eLearning (ODeL) and a director of African Council for Distance Education (ACDE). Mpine has published extensively in the area of educational technology focusing on mobile learning; staff development; quality and policy formulation in ODeL. She has also done consultancy work for the Commonwealth of Learning facilitating the development of ODL policies in different universities in Africa. She holds a PhD and MSc in Educational Technology from the Open University, UK. She also has an MA in Journalism from the University of Michigan and BA in Communication and English (cum laude) from Hope College in Michigan as well as a diploma in journalism from Africa Literature Centre in Zambia. Mpine is also the president of the Distance Education Association of Southern Africa (DEASA), an executive member of National Association of Distance Education Organisation (NADEOSA) and a member of the University Futures Network. She is also an ICDE OER Ambassador. Mpine has received numerous awards for her work in developing capacity in ODeL.edit
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Research Interests: Psychology and Narrative
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Many higher education institutions moved from in-person to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, but these shifts have a longer history and potential. They require challenging individual and collective decision making by staff,... more
Many higher education institutions moved from in-person to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, but these shifts have a longer history and potential. They require challenging individual and collective decision making by staff, beyond their usual repertoire of practice. This paper, therefore, aims to understand the nature of decisions that staff made as they moved to online teaching, the reasons, processes, and reflections on the perceived impacts. Eighty-four participants with diverse roles connected to moving online from four institutions across Africa were purposively sampled. Using a constructivist paradigm and qualitative approach, participants were invited to describe decision-making experiences through short narratives with prompts around their context, decisions, and impacts. Twenty-two of these participants attended a workshop to augment the narrative data and identify good practices. Qualitative analysis directed by Activity Theory concepts revealed that decisions ...
Research Interests: Psychology and Narrative
Research Interests: Sociology, Education, Higher Education, Narrative, Praxis, and 10 moreOpen Education, Open Educational Resources (Education), Open Educational Resources (OER), Openness, Open Educational Practices, Technology Enhanced Education, Open and Distance Learning, Open educational resources (OERs), Open Praxis, and Bildungsinformatik
Leading change in higher education has been a major challenge in countries of limited resources, such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most African universities have struggled with this transition mainly due to lack of the requisite... more
Leading change in higher education has been a major challenge in countries of limited resources, such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most African universities have struggled with this transition mainly due to lack of the requisite information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, inadequate expertise for online pedagogies and inability to provide computers to their students and staff. When faced with the recent changes, caused mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced every person to work and learn remotely, many academic leaders were completely ill-prepared to deal with changes of this magnitude. The aim of this paper is to provide recommendations for shaping the future of higher education in Africa going forward. This will be done by analysing trends and opportunities created by these changes with the aim of accentuating the need for a renewed Pan-African Ubuntu that embraces the future, respects the unique dignity, cultures, languages and heritage of nations pre- ...
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Research Interests: Psychology and Reference
Abstract A 60-item questionnaire on conceptions of learning was mailed to students taking preparatory courses by distance learning with The Open University in the United Kingdom. Complete data were provided by 372 respondents. Their... more
Abstract A 60-item questionnaire on conceptions of learning was mailed to students taking preparatory courses by distance learning with The Open University in the United Kingdom. Complete data were provided by 372 respondents. Their scores on six factor-based ...
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This paper examines how WhatsApp can be used to build learning communities and facilitate interaction, through the lens of Ubuntu – an African concept of humanness, which means that an individual person owes his or her existence to the... more
This paper examines how WhatsApp can be used to build learning communities and facilitate interaction, through the lens of Ubuntu – an African concept of humanness, which means that an individual person owes his or her existence to the existence of others. The Afrocentric concept of Ubuntu and interaction work concomitantly towards the realisation of vocabulary teaching and learning within distance education. Through this study, students were encouraged to work together through a mobile-based social network to learn English vocabulary. Ubuntu was used as a framework to analyse the WhatsApp chats to find salient themes relating to building communities and enhancing interaction. The key elements of Ubuntu grounded the findings and demonstrated how technology can be used to bridge the interaction distance and how Ubuntu principles are articulated in the communities of learning. This paper illustrates how Ubuntu is manifested in a local context, with principles that can be applied globa...
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During the past twenty years Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have increased educational access and affordability worldwide. The OER-OEP synergy reflects one of the most promising strategies for... more
During the past twenty years Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have increased educational access and affordability worldwide. The OER-OEP synergy reflects one of the most promising strategies for increasing access to education globally. Despite significant progress, emerging research suggests the need for a more concerted focus on moving from awareness raising to implementation. This article analyses the current status of OER and OEP in concert with the recent educational response to COVID-19 by educational providers with complimentary mini-case studies from Africa, Brazil, Canada, China, Sweden, and Turkey. The ICDE Ambassadors for the global advocacy of OER, and members of ICDE OER Advocacy Committee (authors) argue that in the six countries studied, there is a greater need and greater receptivity to expand access to education through OER and OEP. To better address the immediate needs of the COVID-19 educational crisis, and to make longer term educational improvements, countries should harness the policy supports and actionable steps offered by the UNESCO OER Recommendation. Currently, we see an opportunity to move OER-OEP to resilient sustainable education and the international policy framework to support such work. The article concludes with some general observations for the way forward
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Many African countries have developed policies to reform their education system in order to widen participation in higher education. To achieve this, open, online and distance education based models have been advocated as the most viable... more
Many African countries have developed policies to reform their education system in order to widen participation in higher education. To achieve this, open, online and distance education based models have been advocated as the most viable delivery tools in expanding access to higher education. However, the policy analysis of Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia revealed that the integration of open, online and distance education in these countries’ education systems is inadequate. The purpose of this study is to analyse policies in order to determine why policy goals are not achieved and how the present reality and the past knowledge impacts on the desired outcome. The future research methods of forecasting is used because it looks at policy interventions with the aim of assisting us to understand probable development in education that may have led to the weak implementation of the policies.
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Abstract Open Distance Learning (ODL) takes place within different environments that are influenced by the social, cultural and political fields in which a student lives. This is particularly significant in South Africa where distance... more
Abstract Open Distance Learning (ODL) takes place within different environments that are influenced by the social, cultural and political fields in which a student lives. This is particularly significant in South Africa where distance learning has been identified as the ...
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Applying the benefits of the multi-dimensionality of empowerment, using transformative paradigms to boost capacity building, within academics in Distance Higher Education (DHE), is a vital part of the re-focusing of research perspectives... more
Applying the benefits of the multi-dimensionality of empowerment, using transformative paradigms to boost capacity building, within academics in Distance Higher Education (DHE), is a vital part of the re-focusing of research perspectives in African Tertiary Institutions (ATIs). How and when the transformative package is utilized for a sustainable research dividend, among the stakeholders in DHE, and within acceptable norms, calls for regular investigation. The study, therefore, using the transformative paradigms, examined how mentees and mentors' relationship, curtails possible academic frustration, indolence, career stagnation, spiral of academic victimization and other challenges, through a symbiotism of interconnectivity employed to facilitate adequate skills acquisition. The acquisition of relevant skills was therefore, instrumental to appropriate research breakthrough, personal development (i.e. increased self-awareness, openness, positive self-image, interdependence, etc) ...
The aim of this paper is to investigate the pedagogic approach that best support effective use of cell phones in the distance education context. Many distance education scholars agreed that students need to be supported both cognitively... more
The aim of this paper is to investigate the pedagogic approach that best support effective use of cell phones in the distance education context. Many distance education scholars agreed that students need to be supported both cognitively and affectively through mediated forms of interaction. Distance education institutions have used a variety of technologies to enhance interaction but none has been so readily available and accessible as cell phones. The usage of cell phones in supporting students is most suitable in Africa because it is affordable and has the ability to connect less privileged people to information. Despite evidence that show that cell phones can be used successfully as a cognitive delivery tool, the pedagogical affordances of cell phones have not yet been fully explored in most developing countries. To understand the pedagogy for mobile learning, it is important to look at distance education theories to determine the importance of interaction on the efficacy of dist...
Studies on learning have tended to endorse the importance of knowledge rather than the significance of the cultural contexts embedded in the different histories and biographies of learners. In order to investigate the relationship between... more
Studies on learning have tended to endorse the importance of knowledge rather than the significance of the cultural contexts embedded in the different histories and biographies of learners. In order to investigate the relationship between these contexts and students' conceptions of learning, this study focuses on South African distance students' accounts of their personal experience and understanding of learning, using Giorgi's phenomenological psychology method to explore the learners' histories and aspirations as they construct and negotiate the meaning they attach to learning. The findings indicate that the social environment, the culture, the political milieu and economic conditions are the most important determinants of conceptions of learning, with all these multiple contexts interacting to influence students' beliefs about learning, which in turn affect their approach to learning and hence their learning outcomes. It is thus argued that, in order to facili...
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This study provides a framework for studying socio‐cultural issues that impact on how knowledge, ideas and values are transmitted and developed. Since racial domination in South Africa was produced through power relations, it is important... more
This study provides a framework for studying socio‐cultural issues that impact on how knowledge, ideas and values are transmitted and developed. Since racial domination in South Africa was produced through power relations, it is important to investigate discourses through which black South African distance education learners make meaning of their experiences as they learn, and how their social, economic and
