Low-Bandwidth OER-Supported Open and Distributed Learning in African Higher Education

This scoping review examines how African higher education institutions can design low-bandwidth, open educational resource (OER)-supported open and distributed learning that creates stronger conditions for equitable participation, persistence, accessibility, and academic success. The study responds to a practical problem in African digital higher education: online provision is expanding, but many learners continue to study through costly data, unstable connectivity, mobile phones, shared devices, limited electricity, uneven academic support, and inaccessible digital materials. Following recognised scoping review guidance and PRISMA-ScR principles, the review synthesised 31 peer-reviewed, policy, standards, and institutional sources selected from 112 records identified through database, journal-site, policy-repository, and reference-chaining searches. The analysis was informed by transactional distance theory, Tait's learner-support framework, social justice perspectives on open education, and Universal Design for Learning. Findings show that equity depends less on any single platform than on coherence among access design, OER quality, localisation, accessibility, learner orientation, asynchronous communication, assessment flexibility, staff capacity, and institutional quality assurance. The article contributes the Low-Bandwidth OER-Supported Learner Support Framework, a ten-dimension model for translating open education principles into practical learning design under constrained conditions. The framework extends transactional distance theory by showing how data cost, device access, electricity reliability, OER adaptability, and asynchronous support mediate structure, dialogue, and learner autonomy in African open and distributed learning contexts.