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The AgShare Phase I Program, conducted at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, was formed to create open education resources for teaching and community development through action research. The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from fields of veterinary medicine and agri-business. Two master of science students conducted dairy value chain action research that produced ase materials used to create open education resources (OER) course modules (milk hygiene and marketing modules) and design interventions that would improve milk production, quality, and safety; reduce milk spoilage; increase price per liter of milk received by farmers; and support on-farm processing of yogurt and other dairy products. This research was used in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the master's degree in Livestock Development, Planning, and Management (MLD) and the master's degree in Agri-business Management (M Agbus Mgt) by these students. The conceptual design, implementation, monitoring, and impacts of action research on teaching, students learning, and the dairy industry are discussed in detail.

One of the cornerstones of the AgShare program is the application of an information loop of action research in the training of graduate students to generate new and practical educational materials and interventions for creating open education research (OER) modules for teaching at universities, and for designing interventions and training programs for making improvements in the dairy value chain in Uganda. One major output of the action research project was the generation of data for use in partial fulfillment of a master of science in Agribusiness and a master of science in Livestock Development, Planning, and Management by participating students. A milk production and hygiene OER module was developed based on components in milk safety, dairy policy, contaminants in milk and dairy products, quality assurance, and dairy planning and management. The OER module was incorporated into an existing graduate-level course at Makerere University. As the AgShare approach continuously updates educational materials through the information loop, this program ensures that university training of students is applicable to the current needs of the dairy industry.