Open Educational Resources Research Articles

Methodology of teaching future computer science teachers to create and use open educational resources

Relevance. At the moment, getting an education is not limited to attending higher educational institutions, the development of the Internet and the emergence of an increasing number of open and accessible online educational courses opens up new learning opportunities.Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the need to format the education system of future computer science teachers based on the creation and use of open educational resources in their learning process.Methodology. The methodological basis of the study is based on the use of such research methods as analysis, synthesis, and actualisation applied in the framework of a pedagogical experiment.Results. The result of the study is the assessment of the degree of development of Internet technologies and educational resources aimed at ensuring the accessibility of education. The world experience of forming an optimal model of education, which is aimed at training future computer science teachers to create and use OER, has been considered. The results demonstrate that for the effective use of open educational resources, it is necessary to ensure their safety. It is also determined that not all open educational resources meet the required level of quality of the information and educational materials provided by them. It is indicated that modern society is at the stage that demonstrates a high level of trust and loyalty to various educational Internet materials and resources, which necessitates their comprehensive study.Conclusions. A clear understanding of the requirements of modern society for the process of obtaining education indicates the ways to adapt the educational environment. The significance of the results is expressed in the development of the methodology of the teaching process of modern computer science teachers based on the creation, implementation, and use of open educational resources.

Use and Acceptance of Open Educational Resources in Library and Information Science Departments in South African Higher Education Institutions

Technology advancement has caused various changes in education, a phenomenon which demands academics to keep up with these changes. Covid-19 caused multiple educational challenges, as online teaching had to be adopted and implemented quickly. The scarcity of online teaching and learning resources has been one of the major problems in South African education. The establishment of open educational resources (OERs) came with some solutions during the trying times of the pandemic, where direct contact with other people was significantly reduced. OERs are educational materials in the public domain introduced with an open licence, such as digital textbooks, research papers, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audios, videos, and animations. It emerged in this study that library and information science (LIS) departments have some awareness of OER. LIS staff employ OERs in their work. However, LIS students rarely utilise them in their studies. It was discovered that LIS departments experience challenges regarding the awareness of copyright, technological problems, quality assurance, and a lack of understanding OER. It can be concluded, based on the findings, that LIS departments were not fully prepared for the changes (moving to online learning) implemented in response to the pandemic. Thus, the study recommends that there should be improved OER awareness, academic staff training, workshops, adequate ICT infrastructure, and improvement of technical skills to increase the utilisation of these resources in LIS departments. This paper depicts an overview of OER and the involvement and opportunity it holds for library and LIS professionals.

Development of Open Education Resources to Teach Oral History: Perspectives of a Sports Heritage-Engaged Scholarship Initiative in Gauteng, South Africa

Gaps exist in archival practices, and developments are in progress to decolonise and transform archives by supplementing existing archival collections with oral history accounts. This is a recent development in the archival field, requiring archivists and records managers to become aware of how oral history collections should be undertaken to preserve testimonies related to socio-economic, sociopolitical, and cultural events not yet captured by South African public archivists. An open educational resource (OER) was developed in 2022 as part of an engaged scholarship initiative to instruct archivists on oral history research techniques and how to apply research ethics when undertaking such projects. The research paradigm for this study was a postmodernist qualitative study. Action-based research was used in the research design. Action research is a flexible methodology uniquely suited to research and support change. It integrates social research with exploratory actions to promote development. Action research outcomes are both practical and theoretical. The knowledge it generates directly and continuously impacts the changing practices of the participants. Data from participants were collected through recorded project workshops and meetings. The content for the OER was developed from observing online videos showcasing oral history interviews, consulting literature on OER development, and discussions with archivists and heritage collectors at the South African National Film, Video and Sound Archives, the South African National Parks Board, and the Gauteng Provincial Archives. The OER was developed to enable collaboration to ensure that the oral narratives of postcolonial Africa, particularly post-apartheid South Africa, are not lost but captured by the public archives’ services for the benefit of South Africans and other interested stakeholders.

OER Accessibility for Students with Visual Disabilities in Higher Education in the Era of Open Knowledge

Open knowledge has the potential to expand inclusive and equitable access to lifelong learning while supporting social inclusion. However, there is low public awareness on issues around inclusiveness, especially for students with visual disabilities who are unable to use the medium of the sighted owing to the consequences of their disabilities. This article discusses various issues around the accessibility of open educational resources (OERs) and the integration of inclusive institutional culture in the Nigerian university system. An interpretive approach was adopted for this study. Out of 22 universities offering enrolment to students with visual disabilities in Nigeria, seven universities were purposively selected based on the availability of OERs on their websites. The purposive sampling method was also used to choose 30 participants from four out of the seven universities who could serve as key informants for the study. Data were collected using in-depth interviews. Data from interviews was designed to achieve qualitative analyses and results were analysed thematically. The study revealed strategies university libraries could deploy to improve access to OERs for students with visual disabilities and provided insightful thoughts and direction on re-imagining the future of the open knowledge movement in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

ICT Tools for Open Educational Resources Used in an Open Distance E-learning Institution in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era

Open educational resources (OER) are gaining popularity in higher education spaces and more attention in open distance e-learning (ODeL) institutions as they are gradually substituting printed prescribed textbooks in the teaching and learning space. The adoption and development of OER have been researched; however, the roles of knowledge management tools in storing and disseminating the resources are not well articulated. This research explores the use of knowledge management tools in an ODeL learning context. ODeL institutions use knowledge management tools and a host of other information and communication technologies (ICT) to deliver and facilitate synchronous and asynchronous learning and bridge transactional distance. Therefore, this study employed a qualitative approach to investigate ways in which lecturers use knowledge management tools to embrace and create OER. A case study approach was used at one ODeL institution. The knowledge management cycle (KMC) was chosen as the theoretical framework of the study. The key finding demonstrates that lecturers utilised a wide range of ICT tools for the storage, collection, and dissemination of OER as part of knowledge production. The study proposes the extension of the KMC from three cycles to four where “system” is added. There is a significant need for policy, impact, and the matrix to be covered under the system cycle. The study recommends that scholars who are investigating any IT artefact opt for an extended KMC where impact and user metrics will be evaluated, as this will enhance academic support.

Open Educational Resources and Artificial Intelligence for Future Open Education

This article explores the intersection of open educational resources (OER) and artificial intelligence (AI), with an emphasis on open pedagogy applications. The article comprises a document analysis to summarise expert perspectives on generative AI and two open pedagogy course concepts that explore the relationship between OER and AI through a practical lens of contexts, infrastructures, and sample work products. The expert interviews were published in the open-access magazine AACE Review and were conducted by the author to capture the dynamic field of generative AI. The two course concepts offer first-hand experiences of designing and implementing student-centred, non-disposable assignments by embedding AI tools in open-access book projects.

Adoption of Open Educational Resources to Transform Postgraduate Studies and Practices

The purpose of this article is to present the unique challenges faced by postgraduate students, which require specific practices to ensure study completion. Narrative inquiry was used as a methodological framework to uncover current realities within postgraduate studies and practices for previously disadvantaged students in South Africa. Arguments were tabled based on first-hand experiences among the two postgraduate students and their supervisor. The two postgraduate students narrated personalised learning in this article at different levels of study. The research project resulted in the designing of personalised learning strategies, using the open educational practice (PLUOEP) model, where each student discussed open educational resources (OERs). This model enabled both students to take control of their learning by setting their own goals, making choices about their learning activities, and reflecting on their progress. In this study, the level of autonomy and agency allowed students to develop a positive mindset and belief in their ability to succeed. This article discusses how students’ individual beliefs and expectations about themselves influenced their behaviour and ultimately led to the realisation of concrete beliefs and expectations. The lessons from this study described how learning was owned by two postgraduate students who tailored their learning to their individual needs and interests. The study found that there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of OER. The study proposes training and workshops for postgraduate students. Students confirmed the sense of ownership and empowerment in their studies and practices. The study recommends adopting OER in the transformation of postgraduate studies and practices as having a “potential” to decolonise teaching and learning.

Conceptualisation of Open Educational Resources, Audiovisual Resources and Electronic Information Resources: A Literature-based Study of Selected Academic Libraries in Ebonyi State Nigeria

Teaching, learning and research at every level of the education system cannot be successful without appropriate resources. Adequate, quality resources are not readily available, especially in resource-constrained countries like Nigeria. These resources come in various formats (physically and/or electronically). Audiovisual resources (AVRs), electronic information resources (EIRs) and open educational resources (OERs) are examples of teaching and learning materials that could be procured by educational institutions and accessed by students and other members of the academic community. The instrument for data collection was a literature review directed to the librarians of the selected university libraries. The educational resources—in terms of availability and usage—were presented in tables comparatively. Findings show that each of the three university libraries has certain types of AVR, EIR and OER, which are available for students’ use. Strategies for the effective use of these educational resources in Nigeria’s academic libraries were discussed. It is recommended that adequate learning facilities, other than books, be provided by the government or private individual owners of the academic libraries in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. There is also a need for academic librarians and users to keep themselves abreast of the skills necessary for the appropriate use of educational resources (subscription or free-based) in the institutions where they are available.

Open Educational Resources in Higher Education: Exploring Access in Resource-constrained Contexts

This special issue is focused on the topic of open educational resources (OER).

Learning along the Way

The development of open educational resources (OER) plays a key role in addressing the challenge of access to affordable, appropriate, high-quality teaching and learning materials. This is particularly the case in health sciences in South Africa, where there is a strong imperative around local production of contextually appropriate resources that can be openly accessible within institutions and in practice. This case study details the creation and iterative review approaches undertaken by undergraduate medical students in a study module focused on creating chapters for an orthopaedics open textbook through the use of ChatGPT. It also explores the nuances of the lecturer’s process, particularly as relates to assessment, quality, and his ambitions to promote student voice through co-creation. The findings demonstrate that ChatGPT has the potential to be the game changer needed to help build OER production in the Global South, particularly in terms of the speeding up of the process. They also suggest that processes of this kind have a role to play in building students’ critical artificial intelligence (AI) digital literacy skills and in boosting their sense of agency. This work stands to make an important contribution in terms of profiling institutional cases where AI is being used in an innovative, responsible manner in the classroom. It also aims to make a unique Global South contribution to the rapidly emerging global discourse around the use of AI in teaching and learning, and the use of collaborative content development approaches to promote student voice and social justice in higher education.

Open educational resources on preservation: An overview

In the last decade there have been many initiatives and projects that have dealt with open educational resources with the goal of making education more available and also of improving formal educational practices. The Erasmus+ project Digital Education for Crisis Situations: Times When There Is No Alternative is such an initiative and one of its planned intellectual outputs is to produce a new open educational resource on the preservation of analogue and digital materials. Planning and creating an open educational resource on preservation needs to be based on an understanding of the content that comprises the complex field of preservation. This also provides the basis for conducting research on the available open educational resources in this field. This article aims to provide an overview of the available open educational resources on preservation through an investigation of open educational resource platforms, finding open educational resources on preservation, and analysing them according to the theoretical background on preservation. This provides an understanding of what kinds of open educational resources exist in the field of preservation and also informs the way a new open educational resource should be created.

A competence framework for educators to boost open educational practices in higher education

ABSTRACT Despite the recognition of the benefits that can be achieved through the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and, more broadly, Open Educational Practices (OEP), there has been little research on the competences that are needed to enable educators to utilise such practices. To contribute to closing this gap, this paper presents a framework of the competences that educators in higher education should develop in order to effectively engage in OEP. The framework development was based on an in-depth analysis of a set of existing successful open teaching practices, which allowed to identify the underlying competences needed to engage in each one of them. The competence framework consists of one transversal attitude (that of being open to constructively engaging in OEP) and two competence categories (those relating to OER and those relating to open pedagogies). These two categories include a total of eight competences, described in detail through the corresponding knowledge and skills. The paper closes with a reflection on how to facilitate the attainment of these competences, that could become a key part of existing capacity building actions for educators at all levels, and suggests some directions for possible future research.

Adult learning and open educational resources

ABSTRACT Open Educational Resources, or OER, are increasingly popular in higher education. Within the USA, and globally, more faculty are embracing these open access textbooks as a way to save their students money, create flexibility for new pedagogical strategies, and support student success. Though all students can benefit from OER, certain student populations are likely to demonstrate more substantial gains than others from their implementation. Determining which student populations are most likely to benefit from OER is important for prioritising resources and advocating for OER adoption. This study explores the impact of OER on a particular student population little covered in the OER literature: adult learners. It examines the focus of existing literature on the use of textbooks by adult learners and evaluates how research findings could influence the efficacy of OER for adult learners.

Open Educational Resources for Learning Waste Management in Rural Communities

Environmental protection is closely related to environmental education. Environmental education is as necessary in the educational system as outside it. The present study, starting from the perception of the representatives of the local rural public administration and the citizens of the rural communities on environmental protection issues: (i) highlights the need for information and education in the field of environmental protection, especially about environmental legislation and waste management; (ii) demonstrates the usefulness of environmental educational projects and the use of open educational resources, as resources that can be easily adapted to the real needs of education and information.

Investigation of Academics' Views on Open Educational Resources

Teknolojide yaşanan gelişmeler, tüm alanları etkilediği gibi eğitim alanında da büyük değişimler yaşanmasını sağlamıştır. Bu gelişmeler arasında yer alan açık eğitim kaynakları (AEK) kavramı, bilgiye daha kolay ve daha hızlı bir şekilde erişmeyi mümkün hâle getirmiştir. Bu bağlamda bu araştırmanın amacı, AEK’lere yönelik akademisyen görüşlerini incelemektir. Araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden biri olan durum çalışması deseni kullanılmıştır. Araştırmaya dört farklı üniversiteden 11 akademisyen katılmış ve verilerin toplanması için görüşme yöntemine başvurulmuştur. Veriler, araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan 12 soruluk Kişisel Bilgiler Formu ve 5 soruluk Yarı Yapılandırılmış Görüşme Soruları Formu aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Toplanan veriler ise içerik analiziyle incelenmiştir. Akademisyenler AEK’lerin en büyük avantajını bilgiye kolay erişim imkânı olarak ifade ederken en büyük dezavantajını güvenilirlik ve doğruluk şüphesi olarak belirtmişlerdir. Ayrıca AEK’lerin hazırlanmasında en çok hedef kitleye uygunluk ilkesine, paylaşılmasında ise en çok kullanıcı dostu platform kullanımına dikkat edilmesi gerektiğini ifade etmişlerdir. Buna ek olarak araştırmaya katılan akademisyenlerin tamamına yakını tüm akademisyenlerin AEK hazırlamaması gerektiğini ifade etmiş ve bunun nedenini yetersizlik olarak belirtmişlerdir. Bir diğer bulgu ise akademisyenlerin tamamına yakınının AEK’lerin erişim kolaylığı nedeniyle basılı kaynaklar üzerinde dönüşüme neden olacağını düşündüğünü göstermektedir. Ayrıca akademisyenlerin bir bölümünün tüm üniversitelerde AEK platformu olması gerektiğini, bir bölümünün ise tüm üniversitelerde böyle bir oluşuma gerek olmadığını ifade ettikleri görülmüştür.

Innovation from necessity: digital technologies, teacher development and reciprocity with organisational innovation

ABSTRACT This paper outlines how digital technologies support innovation in teaching and learning the English language across Palestinian Higher Education Institutes. A European project collaborated to build staff capacity in knowledge and skills, shown here through the redesign of curricula, pedagogical training, the design and implementation of interactive textbooks, the creation of language labs, helping to develop expertise in creating and utilising Open Educational Resources (OER) and significantly, the development of individual agency as a form of OER. In this paper, we draw on three years of data to present a model for teacher innovation showing how digital innovation is firstly personal at a practitioner level and shaped by need, before becoming driven by collaboration at an organisational level with like-minded colleagues. Shared practice at this level can lead to community discourse through practitioner networks, which in turn can lead to dialogue initiating instances of organisational change. This resonates with literature which shows innovation has three outcomes: originality (practitioner-based agency); scale (going beyond the site of creation) and value (how this produces benefits for others). We perceive that the resulting capacity-building extends beyond the redesign of curricula mentioned to professional enrichment, collegiality through cascading innovation to other areas, and enhanced practitioner agency.

Thank You, OER Champion

As the cost of textbooks continue to rise for students, Open educational resources (OER), which are openly licensed course materials that are free to use and share, have become a particularly popular textbook affordability initiative among college faculty. In order to market textbook affordability and OER, Clackamas Community College used a "gratitude campaign" to showcase faculty who had transitioned to teaching with OER, even with limited time and resources.

Artificial Intelligence Alone Will Not Democratise Education: On Educational Inequality, Techno-Solutionism and Inclusive Tools

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education claims to have the potential for building personalised curricula, as well as bringing opportunities for democratising education and creating a renaissance of new ways of teaching and learning. Millions of students are starting to benefit from the use of these technologies, but millions more around the world are not, due to the digital divide and deep pre-existing social and educational inequalities. If this trend continues, the first large-scale delivery of AI in Education could lead to greater educational inequality, along with a global misallocation of educational resources motivated by the current techno-solutionist narrative, which proposes technological solutions as a quick and flawless way to solve complex real-world problems. This work focuses on posing questions about the future of AI in Education, intending to initiate the pressing conversation that could set the right foundations (e.g., inclusion and diversity) for a new generation of education that is permeated with AI technology. The main goal of our opinion piece is to conceptualise a sustainable, large-scale and inclusive AI for the education ecosystem that facilitates equitable, high-quality lifelong learning opportunities for all. The contribution starts by synthesising how AI might change how we learn and teach, focusing on the case of personalised learning companions and assistive technology for disability. Then, we move on to discuss some socio-technical features that will be crucial to avoiding the perils of these AI systems worldwide (and perhaps ensuring their success by leveraging more inclusive education). This work also discusses the potential of using AI together with free, participatory and democratic resources, such as Wikipedia, Open Educational Resources and open-source tools. We emphasise the need for collectively designing human-centred, transparent, interactive and collaborative AI-based algorithms that empower and give complete agency to stakeholders, as well as supporting new emerging pedagogies. Finally, we ask what it would take for this educational revolution to provide egalitarian and empowering access to education that transcends any political, cultural, language, geographical and learning-ability barriers, so that educational systems can be responsive to all learners’ needs.

Adapting for Anti-Racism: Collaboratively Diversifying Faculty Open Professional Development

Higher education institutions have become increasingly interested in exploring the innovative learning opportunities afforded by open educational resources and practices (OER). These same institutions have begun to more seriously consider ways to eradicate racism. However, few institutions have considered the ways that OER may prove useful in dismantling anti-racism and how to prepare instructional faculty to do so. Given their expertise and research skills, librarians may be uniquely positioned to take on this role. In this paper, we explore one such online asynchronous effort–adaptation and implementation of the Open for Anti-Racism faculty workshop in a Learning Management System–and offer insights for librarians and instructional faculty. These findings include: the importance of 1) adapting for local institutional context, 2) providing multimodal peer engagement opportunities, and 3) having facilitators occupying different professional roles and social locations.

Teaching sensation and perception in small groups: Eleven practical exercises

ABSTRACT Here we present 11 short practical exercises complementing the lecture on sensation and perception. The exercises cover all the classic topics in the curriculum (vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) and work best in small groups of up to 10 students. They last between 5 and 45 min and range from short demonstrations on depth perception and sound source localization to more elaborate setups such as a double-blind taste test and an obstacle course with upside-down goggles. For each exercise, we provide a detailed description with theoretical background, materials, procedure, learning objectives, and our experiences from 10 semesters on what worked well and what not so much. We also present strategies for online delivery or suggest alternative exercises that can be implemented both in remote and in-person settings. Instructions for all exercises are available in German, English, and Spanish as open educational resources that can be reused, shared and modified.