Access to relevant learning resources is an important aspect in ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all as outlined in the sustainable development goal 4 (SDG4). The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has identified the development of open educational resources (OER) as a potential answer to these challenges. A total of 29 provincial/regional OER policies and guidelines were developed in Sri Lanka, Botswana, and Cameroon closely involving 608 provincial/regional policymakers from the general education system. The innovation of this project lies in the collaborative approach adopted for OER policy/guideline development where a maximum number of policymakers at the provincial/regional level have been included in the policy development process. Key applications of the approach are mass-sensitization of policymakers, identification of champions in each province or region to drive the OER agenda forward, and the development of policies/guidelines tailored to the specific needs of a particular jurisdiction. The paper will also highlight the success factors, challenges, and the follow-up activities of the project.

The government of Cameroon has been increasingly pre-occupied with the quality of learning outcomes and the lack of learning resources at all levels of the education system. Research on similar educational systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond indicate that Ministries of Education are exploring the potential of open educational resources (OER) to cut down the high cost of textbooks and enhance the availability of quality learning materials in classrooms. To explore possibilities of mainstreaming OER under the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education in Cameroon, a quantitative research design approach was used to survey n=393 Regional Pedagogic Supervisors from the 10 Regions of the country. The outcome of this study presents the factors shaping the perspectives of Regional Pedagogic Supervisors in terms of perceptions and barriers to using OER. The novelty of this approach is the application of a proven model for technology acceptance testing in the context of OER. Based on the findings, three major recommendations for mainstreaming OER in Cameroon with potential impact on lowering textbook costs and increasing learning outcomes were formulated.

Over the last 10 years, the state of sexual and reproductive health in Cameroon has been challenging with rising levels of sexually transmitted diseases, the high fertility rate, and high infant and maternal mortality rates. Some researchers attributed these challenges to the limited number and quality of sexual and reproductive health personnel working in health facilities across the country. The North West Region of Cameroon was taken as a unit of study to probe into the skills gap among sexual and reproductive health practitioners. A total of n = 302 participants at a confidence interval of 95 per cent were selected using a stratified random sampling technique to take part in the study. The results indicated that a good number of them have no prior experience in the field of sexual and reproductive health. On the other hand, most of the practitioners’ skills level is situated between intermediate and competent with very few of them being at the expert skills level. It was therefore recommended that most of the participants needs improvement in (i) computer or information technology skills; (ii) research skills; and (iii) leadership development of the specialty. These areas need to be dealt with, as a matter of priority, through training and professional development to enable these professionals to deliver better service in the sexual and reproductive healthcare sector. It was also recommended that, in line with the critical role that sexual and reproductive health practitioners play in Cameroon’s health system, the Ministry of Public Health and other role players in the health sector make sufficient investments in the improvement of the health workforce’s accessibility to information and communication technology.

As a practitioner with over twenty-five years of experience in the domain of education and training, educators at all levels of education face serious challenges while attempting to embrace technology in instructional processes. To cope with the new trends, educators in the field of education and professional training are challenged to update their skills and benefit from the flexibility offered by contemporary learning technologies. Based on the wealth of experience acquired while assisting institutions of learning at all levels of education to put their courses online, I thought it necessary to assist colleagues with a book entitled "Course Design for Technology Mediated Learning". Course Design for Technology Mediated Learning is structured into seven chapters: Chapter 1: Basic Notions of Learning Theories. Chapter 2: Structure and Processes of the Human Memory Chapter 3: Classification of Learning Domains and Objectives Chapter 4: Instructional Design Models Chapter 5: Searching Electronic Resources on Internet Chapter 6: Learning Management Systems Chapter 7: Basic Steps in Course Creation and Learners Enrolment in Moodle It is important to note that the chapters are not organised in a hierarchical order thus providing you with a greater flexibility to explore each chapter independently based on your needs. However, it is important to walk through from chapter one. Even if you are familiar with the different topics, there might be something new. I believe in the psychology of learning which upholds that concepts are best mastered when we rehearse existing knowledge. With this in mind, this book provides an opportunity to rehearse what you already know. References for further reading have been provided at the end of each chapter thus making it easy for those who are interested in deepening their knowledge in the issues discussed.