Impact Of Open Educational Resources Research Articles

Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks

<p>This paper presents the results of collaborative research between OpenStax College, who have published 16 open textbooks to date, and the OER Research Hub, a Hewlett funded open research project examining the impact of open educational resources (OER) on learning and teaching. The paper focuses primarily on the results of two surveys that were conducted with educators during 2013 and 2014/2015. These surveys focused on use and perceptions of OER and OpenStax College materials, financial savings and perceptions of impact on both educators and students. This paper reports on the research findings related to the impact of OER on educator practice and make a series of specific recommendations based on these findings. </p>

Simulando colisiones. Integración de la tecnología en el nivel secundario

La inclusión del uso de simulaciones en el aula proporciona a los docentes una herramienta alternativa para la implementación de clases de Física. En este trabajo se comentan los resultados de una estrategia implementada en el tema de colisiones elásticas e inelásticas, en una dimensión. La misma se llevó a cabo con alumnos de cuarto año del nivel secundario, que desconocen el tema. En la clase se utilizó una simulación en el marco de una investigación más amplia sobre el impacto del uso de recursos educativos abiertos. Las actividades se desarrollaron con la interpretación de imágenes apoyadas con la simulación. Los estudiantes mostraron entusiasmo en la tarea y la mayoría logró interpretar el fenómeno físico, pero el tiempo destinado para el desarrollo de las tareas no fue suficiente para internalizar el vocabulario científico.

Learning the Lessons of Openness

The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has built up a record of experience and achievements since it was formed 10 years ago as an identifiable approach to sharing online learning materials. In its initial phase, much activity was driven by ideals and interest in finding new ways to release content, with less direct research and reflection on the process. It is now important to consider the impact of OER and the types of evidence that are being generated across initiatives, organisations and individuals. Drawing on the work of OLnet (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://olnet.org</span>) in bringing people together through fellowships, research projects and supporting collective intelligence about OER, we discuss the key challenges facing the OER movement. We go on to consider these challenges in the context of another project, Bridge to Success (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://b2s.aacc.edu</span>), identifying the services which can support open education in the future. <span class="sub_head">Keywords:</span> OER, policy, open education, services, reflection, collective intelligence

Emergence of open educational resources (OER) in India and its impact on lifelong learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the evolution of open educational resources OER initiatives in India – how OER movement emerges from the open access movement in the backdrop of an emerging knowledge‐based economy. This paper also illustrates how OER help in democratizing lifelong learning spaces that eventually help in skills development.Design/methodology/approachThis paper primarily uses baseline surveys and recommendations of different working groups of Indian National Knowledge Commission. Relevant policy instruments of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, UNESCO, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and other national and international bodies are also critically examined to understand India's stand on OER in comparison with other promising developing countries. This paper analyses impact of OER on Indian systems of education, ranging from lifelong learning, technical and vocational education and training to higher education systems. This paper also illustrates various models of innovations which are shaping up multi‐dimensional lifelong learning pathways to cater to career aspirations of young Indians.FindingsThis paper finds out that Indian OER initiatives make use of textual platforms as well as audio‐visual platforms embracing YouTube, Metacafe and other web‐based streaming video channels. This paper also illustrates the collaboration patterns in OER initiatives in order to attain sustainability, optimum usage and integration with formal curriculum of skills development programmes.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this paper identifies external as well as internal factors that are shaping up OER movement in this emerging knowledge economy, this paper mainly focuses on country‐level initiatives. The challenges faced at the institutional level as well as users level can be traced through advanced research studies.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests some sustainable models for OER deployment, lessons learned and challenges faced by practitioners and users communities.Social implicationsOER development has become a social movement. Proper deployment and utilization of OER resources will lead to social empowerment of young adults. This paper helps in understanding how Indian society embraces OER in order to attain social justice and empowerment through sustainable educational development.Originality/valueThis paper is a unique attempt to produce a state‐of‐the‐art report on the emergence of the OER movement in a transitional emerging economy.