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Capacity building for advancing climate-change leadership has become a critical workforce development requirement for both professionals and front-line workers. As the World Economic Forum Jobs 2020 report noted, there is an increasing need to provide short-timeframe opportunities for reskilling and upskilling that will keep step with the increasing issues of the climate crisis. Micro-credentials have been proposed as a strategy to enable the ongoing development of knowledge and skills to address this workforce development requirement, which we examine in the context of a university initiative that has prototyped skill pathways to address key climate adaptation themes. We report and discuss the strategic use of the Climate Adaptation Competency Framework (2020)--a Creative Commons-licensed (CC) open competency framework--along with the use of open educational resources to create agile pathways to skill development for climate adaptation and action. The pathways we have designed and are testing combine self-directed learning resources, individual and group activities, and authentic assessment practices to validate skill development. Micro-credentials are awarded from a university continuing and professional studies division to learners from multiple practice domains for demonstrations of competence.

In this article, we present how educational resources for zoology designed by undergraduate students help to propose means of action for teaching diversity and animal evolution in basic education. We realised that activities of creation and analysis of educational resources, in the context of didactic planning, have the potential to approximate epistemic and pedagogical dimensions of evolutionary thinking. These dimensions are relevant to the design of teaching-learning sequences, since they allow pre-teachers to cross the subject-object border and to appropriate cultural tools necessary for their professional activity. We argue about the development of evolutionary thinking, meaning, among other things, tree-thinking as a mediating tool in socio-scientific decision-making and the teaching-learning problems of the coexistence of antagonistic paradigms in biological classification. Our results emphasise that phylogeny is a structuring subject in teaching and preservice teacher education, mediating the debate on the nature of science, such as evolutionary inference, hypothesis elaboration, transience in science, and the social role of science for the conservation of biodiversity.

Purpose: This paper asserts that while educational resources are times effective in teaching students how to write, the format in which they are delivered can influence results. With this in mind, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of using educational resources in a blended format. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed-method research design to elicit information from 70 participants recruited for this study. The researcher divided the participants into experimental and control groups where the researcher taught the control group writing skills in a hybrid learning environment without using educational resources while the experimental group used blended interactive educational resources. The researcher analyzed and interpreted the participants' post-test scores and transcripts of the interviewees. Findings: This study finds that blended interactive educational resources contribute significantly toward improving the students' writing skills; however, improvements were not found in all aspects of their writing. Originality/value: This study unpacks the positive contributions of blended interactive educational resources in writing instruction. This study contributes to educational literature in showing that these resources may be effective in improving some aspects of writing text. This study adds to other corpora of studies that emphasize the importance of using educational resources for learning.

The Iowa Private Academic Library Open Educational Resources (IPAL OER) Project supported 62 open educational resources (OER) projects at 18 private colleges and universities in Iowa. The project impacted 1,800 students during the 2021-2022 academic year. Students saved more than $208,000 on the costs of textbooks. OER adoption led to positive impacts for students, faculty, and institutions. The fledgling OER experiments were not without challenges. Institutions will need further conversation and creativity to support and grow their OER initiatives. After describing their experience with the IPAL OER Project, the authors recommend considerations for other open education initiatives.

Purpose: Informal learning is an effective and motivating strategy to support the learning process. Informal learning has received increased attention recently due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, finding effective ways to facilitate innovative teaching and learning through open educational resources (OER) is a vital issue. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the informal learning characteristics (ILC) (i.e. observation, imitation, exploration, innovation and articulation) of teachers in using OER and whether these characteristics have any relationship with teachers' innovative work behavior (IWB, i.e. opportunity exploration, idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization) in schools. Design/methodology/approach: The current study utilized a descriptive quantitative survey approach. A survey with three parts was developed: the Open Educational Resources Scale (OERS), the Teachers' Informal Learning Characteristics Scale (TILCS) and the Teachers' Innovative Work Behavior Scale (TIWBS). The information was gathered from a sample of 2,024 teachers working in Kuwait's public schools through an online survey. Findings: The results revealed that social media, YouTube, PowerPoint and games were the most common open resources used by teachers. Teachers' responses on the TILCS showed that observation was the most common among teachers and exploration was the second. Responses on the TIWBS showed that idea generation was the highest. When using OER, the results showed that all five subscales of the TILCS and all four subscales of the TIWBS were linked in a good way. Research limitations/implications: This study had several limitations that should be considered in future research. First, the data collection method was self-report. Future research necessitates adopting qualitative methods such as participant observations where IWB can be monitored and documented. Another limitation is almost all teachers have smartphone with Internet access, which may have affected the results. This situation might not be found in other countries since a large percentage of young people in Kuwait use information and communication technology as is the case in other Gulf region countries. Practical implications: This study expects that this kind of support will be reflected on teachers' IWB which accelerates teachers' movement toward upper IWB tasks such as idea promotion and idea realization. This support will motivate teachers to transform teachers' innovative ideas into useful applications and try to assist teachers' colleagues through conducting workshops or inviting well-known educators to present their experiences to school personnel. Social implications: This study can be a guide to help teachers be independent, self-directed, problem-solving-oriented and internally motivated by incorporating the assumptions of andragogy theory. Furthermore, this study points out the high tendency of teachers to use OER and helps to plan teachers' professional development programs that take Andragogical tendencies into account in addition to developing teachers' lifelong learning skills. Originality/value: The results implied that teachers have obvious ILC toward OER, specifically through observation and exploration to create their own innovations in their work environments. With the appropriate internal and external incentives and support from school administrators, this study expects that teachers will move forward toward upper informal learning stages such as innovation and articulation and toward upper tasks in IWB such as idea promotion and idea realization. As a result, schools as places of work can go through a lot of changes if new OER-related applications and workshops are added.

The preparation of future scientists, the technical workforce, and informed citizens will require continued transformation to the ways we approach STEM teaching and learning. Undergraduate STEM education is rapidly emerging as a focus of faculty scholarship, but new models for reform need to be developed and tested to accelerate changes in teaching practices. This paper describes a flexible, participant-driven, multi-phase, collaborative approach to developing open educational resources (OERs) that leverages linked communities of practice (CoPs). Equally valuable, our framework for development, adaptation, dissemination, and validation of OERs provides a platform for faculty professional development and sustained support through cooperative mentoring. The three linked CoPs in the framework include incubators for the creation of initial OERs, Faculty Mentoring Networks (FMNs) for the implementation and adaptation of OERs for classroom use, and Education Research Communities to assess the effectiveness of the OERs. The CoPs create numerous benefits for participating faculty, including the ability to collaborate in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through scholarly publication of OERs and their assessment; ongoing mentorship in implementation of OERs in the classroom; and development of educational leadership skills and experience. Thus, the three CoPs synergize with one another to build and sustain capacity through providing vetted, up-to-date educational resources, as well as ongoing training and support for faculty. While we developed this approach for the rapidly changing field of bioinformatics, the linked CoP framework will have utility for STEM education reform more broadly and disciplines beyond STEM.

The right of persons with disabilities for equal access to education and educational resources is enshrined by international and country-specific anti-discrimination laws. Taking the Ethiopian context as an example, this paper sought to identify barriers of access to educational resources and explored ways for removing them. Seventeen students with visual impairments studying at Hawassa University were selected for semi-structured interviews. Moreover, five individuals working at the disability centre and the university library were interviewed. The results of the interviews were analysed thematically using the International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities and Health (ICF) as a framework. Access and accessibility problems that emanate from the learners' diverse background, lack of educational resources in alternative formats, lack of institutional tools (policy, procedure, guidelines, etc.) to bridge the gap between law and practice, and the digital divide were among the problems identified and discussed. At the end, the paper showed how libraries, revitalised as learning and information commons, could help to ensure the accessibility of educational resources and help learners with disabilities to acquire skills that may help them in their studies and their future undertakings.

The educational paradigm has been changing, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, that made witness the field's strengths, weaknesses, and lack of readiness making the transition from traditional classroom teaching to Online Remote Teaching and Learning (ORTL). While pre-pandemic studies state that teachers were willing to change, post-pandemic studies still show that teachers have a basic or medium level of digital competencies, still feeling insecure about how to effectively and efficiently use digital tools in their educational practices. The study presented here is being conducted at a Portuguese Higher Education Institution, to students of a master's degree in Digital Education Resources, after they were trained in the development and implementation of digital Open Educational Resources (OER). This paper presents preliminary findings concerning teachers' perceptions about the pedagogical implications of using OER after having received specific training on how to prepare, adapt, create, and implement them. This study methodology consisted of the application of questionnaires, at the end of the unit on Digital Educational Resources. The results are preliminary, concerning the first implementation of the questionnaires. Our goal is to consistently apply them, to gain a better understanding of the knowledge gained over the course, and positive and negative implications on their pedagogical experience.

Teachers in K-12 schools have shown an increasing desire for open educational resources (OER) to ensure all students can learn effectively. OER provide teachers with free access to open-licensed educational resources that they can retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute for personalized instruction. Open educational practices (OEP) have been considered a pathway to reinforce the acceptance and readiness of K-12 teachers to use OER. This research thus showcases a qualitative study that investigates teachers' experiences with OEP. This research explains K-12 teachers' perceived benefits of implementing OER and also discusses their perceived barriers hindering OER usage in K-12 settings. The study also discusses the practical implications of integrating OER in K-12 curriculum.

Open educational resources have become a strategic source of a high degree of importance and this explains the reason for the acceleration of countries to join the use of them, but unfortunately, the results of a survey study conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on eight experts in e-learning showed a gap that hinders integration in the use of open educational resources among educational institutions, especially at the general and higher education. Accordingly, the present study aimed to review the most prominent Open Educational Resources (OER) platforms in Saudi Arabia and identify the reality of cooperation and the best means of integration between higher and general education institutions from the perspective of specialists and concerned bodies. It adopted the analytical survey (descriptive) method. It covered a population of specialists and concerned bodies in e-learning from higher and general education institutions. The study applied a questionnaire to a sample of (144) participants from higher education institutions and (327) participants from general education institutions. Finally, it concluded results, made recommendations and suggested further studies.

This study investigated information and communication technology (ICT) skills and efficient management of educational resources in public secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study which adopted descriptive survey design was guided by two research questions. The 268 secondary school principals in Rivers State constituted the population. A sample of 255 principals which was 95% of the population was drawn through the stratified random sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire titled: "ICT Skills and Efficient Management of Educational Resources Questionnaire (ICTSEMERQ)" was used for data collection. The instrument which contained 14 items was properly validated and the test retest method using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Statistics for reliability testing yielded an 'r' value of 0.82. Percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the research questions. The study revealed that the ICT skills needed by principals include among others: knowledge of operating ICT devices, good knowledge of using ICT devices in teaching, ability to use ICT devices to store and retrieve information. The study also revealed that ICT skills enhance efficient management of educational resources through enhancing proper keeping of records, effective communication and proper accountability of educational resources among others. Based on the findings, conclusions were drawn and the following recommendations were made: Rivers State Ministry of Education in collaboration with secondary school's management board should provide capacity building programmes to principals on ICT skills and principals should enroll themselves in institutions where they can obtain ICT literacy and utilization skills.

Modern educational process has to take into account the tendencies in science and tech advancement and also demands of society to quality of education services. As one of the most effective ways, there is reasonably considered purposeful usage of digital educational resources. In this study, there has been considered modern educational technology of "Blended learning" by model of the "Flipped classroom", that is based on the concept of unifying the technology of "class-lesson system" and technology of digital teaching on the grounds of new didactic possibilities given by ICT (informational and communicational technologies) and modern teaching means. Theoretical methods among which there are analyzing, comparing and summarizing the research subject on the base of psychological and pedagogical literature; query-diagnostic method that help to evaluate effectiveness of digital educational resources usage in teaching students with application of "Flipped classroom" technology. In the carried study, there are shown different variants and technological means in realization of "Flipped classroom" when making digital educational resources on subjects of "Methodology and methods in organizing scientific research" and "Method of teaching mathematics". According to survey results it can be stated that students sufficiently highly evaluate the level in organization of teaching, the content of digital educational resources and also qualification and responsiveness of teachers. Study results can be used at development of teaching courses, digital educational resources that are introduced within scope of higher education, when making comparative studies for working out design methodology for digital educational resources. Pilot project on introduction of new educational technology on within realization scope of digital education resources at various levels of higher professional education, was held on the base of Kazan (Volga region) federal university institute and proved its trustworthiness.

As teaching and learning experiences broaden to include more technological innovations, methods of instruction and resource flexibility are becoming increasingly important for educators and students. Open educational resources (OER) have gained international appeal for such flexibility, and post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of creating access to them. Although research related to OER has increased, few researchers have focused on OER in music instruction. In my cross-sectional survey of music faculty in the United States (N = 409), I found that music faculty were generally unaware of OER although most participants would consider adopting an open textbook for a course. Motivating factors for adoption included ease of use and decreased costs for students, whereas time and financial support would be necessary for adoption to be feasible.

Teachers' self-directed professional development (i.e., professional development implemented by teachers on their own) has been considered a useful channel of overcoming external constraints in under-resourced contexts, where external support for teachers may be limited. However, almost no research has focused on how such development could be achieved through open educational resources (OERs), which have been acknowledged for their free and convenient access and for their complementary role in buttressing the instructional content of in-class teaching. In response to this gap, this study adopted a qualitative case study approach that tracked a secondary teacher from an under-resourced vocational school in China and explored the trajectory of her self-directed professional development through OERs. Through qualitative analyses of data sources (e.g., the teacher's reflections, interview responses and field notes on teaching activities), this study reveals that the teacher's OER-based self-directed professional development involved a process of battling diverse factors in and outside the classroom, including her prior expectations of OERs and the vicarious teaching experiences that she gained while implementing self-directed professional development. The teacher gradually constructed her malleable and critical understanding of OERs as crucial resources in sustaining her self-directed professional development. This study concludes that OERs were useful in the process of the teacher's self-directed professional development, despite the complexity of their use.

For teaching practice to be useful, educational materials must be thoroughly evaluated prior to use. In this study, teachers evaluated open educational resources (OER) created for a European Commission Horizon 2020 project called DIALLS ('DIalogue and Argumentation for cultural Literacy Learning in Schools'). Considering research on how OER are evaluated, we were interested in learning (1) how teachers perceive their "application," "content," "design," "value" and "sustainability" and (2) what other aspects teachers find important when evaluating OER. After analysing quantitative and qualitative data, we found that aspects facilitating self-regulated use were rated most highly and mentioned most often. Teachers additionally valued "adaptable" materials offering "opportunities to reflect" their teaching practices. Future research may benefit from evaluating OER based on 'affordance' aspects -- aspects that allow teachers to adapt the materials in a self-regulated way and reflect on their teaching.

Institutions, organisations, and policymakers use open educational resources (OERs) to promote student equity and social inclusion. The global COVID-19 crisis highlighted the need for lifelong learning and underscored the importance of the higher education system in this endeavour. This study describes informal learning among adults through OERs, during the COVID-19 crisis, distinguishing between employed and unemployed individuals and between professional and personal development. A questionnaire distributed during the COVID-19 lockdown focused on three themes: (1) types of OERs used for learning during this period; (2) perceived OERs' usefulness; and (3) changes in OER use due to the crisis. Our findings revealed group differences in types of OERs used and in changes brought about by COVID-19, as well as within-group differences based on personal characteristics. Only a few participants reported using massive open online courses (MOOCs). Moreover, videoconferencing usage increased despite low perceived usefulness ratings, pointing to a change in informal learning modes. This exploratory research provides insights into the preferences of individual groups. These insights may be used to reduce socioeconomic disparities, especially among those who have lost their jobs, and to develop effective models for open education.

There is no better time than now for sociologists to adopt open educational resources (OER), and sociology as a discipline is well positioned to lead. Adopting OER takes seriously the well-documented financial challenges faced by many students, supports classroom and campus goals of equity and inclusion, and allows for increased instructor flexibility. However, OER are not without their difficulties and limitations. This conversation article suggests four ways for instructors to begin or advance their utilization of OER: Ask your librarian, start with an open textbook, join the existing OER conversation, and incorporate OER within one's broader commitment to inclusive and empathetic pedagogy.

While several studies have investigated the various effects of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP), few have focused on its connection to learning achievement. The related scientific literature is divided about the effects of OER and OEP with regards to their contribution to learning achievement. To address this tension, a meta-analysis and research synthesis of 25 studies (N = 119,840 participants) was conducted to quantitatively investigate the effects of OER and OEP on students' learning achievement. The analysis included course subject, level of education, intervention duration, sample size, geographical distribution, and research design as moderating variables of the obtained effects. The findings revealed that OER and OEP have a significant yet negligible (g = 0.07, p < 0.001) effect. Additionally, the analysis found that the obtained effect can be moderated by several variables, including course subject, level of education and geographical distribution. The study findings can help various stakeholders (e.g., educators, instructional designers or policy makers) in understanding what might hinder OER and OEP effect on learning achievement, hence accommodating better learning outcomes and more effective interventions.

Open Educational Resources (OER) aim to open up the access to education for everyone, further enhancing learning quality and facilitating knowledge sharing. Since their official adoption in 2012, OER have gained much attention with various studies being conducted to investigate how educators and students perceive these resources. However, less investigation was paid to OER adoption in developing African countries. Therefore, to promote social justice and facilitate OER adoption in these countries, this study investigates the pedagogical beliefs, teaching practices and use of OER in the Republic of Ghana. The mixed method (questionnaire and semi-structured interviews) was adopted to gain an in-depth understanding into the perceptions that Ghanaian educators have based on their experience with OER and how their interpretations or meanings they have derived from their experience affect the use of OER. The reported findings highlighted that while Ghanaian educators have positive pedagogical beliefs about OER and are using them in their teaching practices, several challenges are reported that might hinder OER adoption in Ghana. For instance, educators raised concerns about intellectual property and difficulty of finding OER. Based on these findings, this study provided recommendations for different stakeholders, to facilitate OER adoption in Ghana, and in similar African countries.

This study reports on the adaptation and outcomes of a teacher professional development (TPD) programme in a rural Zimbabwean secondary school. The programme incorporated Open Educational Resources (OER), specifically OER4school materials, that were provided via tablet computers for teachers and students. A mixed-methods case study was employed to explore teachers' perceptions, knowledge, experiences of interactive learning and teaching in relation to this TPD, as well as their perceptions and experiences of the role and value of using technology to support student learning. Video data from structured lesson observations were triangulated with teacher post-lesson interviews and thematically coded. The interviews indicated that all teachers demonstrated a change in mindset and a clear understanding of interactive teaching methods. However, the structured observations revealed that only half of the teachers were using these interactive methods. Teachers also emphasised the value of OER and tablet technologies in improving lesson planning and making classroom learning more authentic. The use of technology, as both a TPD medium and as a classroom tool, showed potential to enhance the quality of TPD and teacher quality. Yet more specific teacher development to support the interactive use of technology within the classroom would be beneficial.

This study explores the use of open educational resources (OERs) in studio-based learning and their influence on learning experiences. The research team conducted action research with 30 bachelor of arts students who were completing a video production subject. Students were required to learn from a website containing open online learning resources under a flipped classroom approach. A teaching schedule and website were designed according to several criteria. Research data were collected through observation, reflective journals, and interviews and were analyzed via thematic analysis. Participating students expressed their perceptions of benefits and hesitation in utilizing OERs in learning. They agreed that the use of OERs as flipped classroom learning materials could positively affect their learning, primarily through competence and learning autonomy as indicated in self-determination theory. This investigation provides teachers with valuable experience and suggestions for teaching and learning approaches that incorporate OERs into studio-based education. Students learn from OERs in which they can gain the most up-to-date technical knowledge in an autonomous environment. This experience indicates that this pedagogy greatly and positively influences students' subject-learning experiences, learning outcomes, and self-learning skills.

Purpose: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) was a milestone when it was uniformly adopted by its member states on November 25, 2019. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide an overview of the OER Recommendation in relation to some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper focuses on SDG 4 on education, but also on other SDGs that are directly linked to the relevant SDGs for the overall implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation. These SDGs are: SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 10 (reduce inequalities within and between countries), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals). All five areas of the OER recommendation are closely linked to the above SDGs. This paper also discusses how to advocate with stakeholders at all levels to implement and mainstream OER and the SDGs across all areas of the OER recommendation. In addition, this concept paper discusses accessibility for all (e.g. any type of impairment/disability, etc.) and addresses quality issues at OER and their implications. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper provides an overview of the UNESCO OER Recommendation and its relationship to some of the SDGs. The paper also addresses the role of stakeholders in implementing the OER Recommendation and the potential problems of its accessibility and quality. This paper has been designed as a literature review including mainly official reports from the organizations in the field, such as the UN UNESCO SDGs (UN, n.d; UNESCO, 2016) and the UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019, 2021a). This conceptual paper is discursive in nature. It contains a discussion based on a literature review comparative studies, experiences, works, and reflections of the author, who has been working in this field since its beginnings in 2002. This contribution is also based on the experiences, works, and reflections of other authors on the OER movement. Findings: The UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) clarifies that all five areas of the OER Recommendation for implementation are closely linked to the SDGs (UN, n.d; UNESCO, 2016), particularly SDG4, which targets to achieve education for all by 2030, and other SDGs, such as SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reducing inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals). Since OER does not consist of a single goal but is linked to universal values, such as the common good, human rights (United Nations, 1948), equality, ethics, and social justice, this concept paper discusses how they are interconnected and how both the SDGs and the five domains of the UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) can be achieved. To date, however, there have been few studies on how they are interconnected. This paper proposes a model that highlights their relationships as two sides of the same coin, as they are interconnected and influence, facilitate, and reinforce each other. Research limitations/implications: The study presented in this concept paper may have limitations as it is mainly based on a review of the official relevant literature by UNESCO and OECD. A large-scale study relying on more comprehensive methods, such as focus groups, grounded theory, or even other qualitative and quantitative methods, could have validated the findings. However, since this is a first attempt, and there are few, if any studies in this area, it was decided to conduct the study in the form of a literature review and with a personal approach based on more than 20 years of research, experience, and consultation in the area of open education, OER, human rights (United Nations, 1948), social justice, ethics, and the common good. Practical implications: The practical impact of the findings of this conceptual paper is that by breaking down the broad SDG goals to a practical level, it shows how the SDGs can be part of daily life and seamless daily education and learning throughout the lifespan of the learners. Social implications: The higher values of the SDGs relate to human rights United Nations (1948), social justice, and equity. Several of the SDGs, including SDG 4 and others addressed in the UNESCO OER Recommendation, such as the following: SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reduce inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals) can be achieved through open education (Inamorato Dos Santos et al., 2016). Achieving these SDGs and implementing the OER Recommendation will benefit both individuals and the planet. Education for all will also help solve climate problems. Originality/value: The OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) clarifies that all five areas of its implementation are closely linked to the SDGs, particularly SDG4, which targets education for all by 2030 (OECD, 2009; UNESCO, 2016), as well as SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reducing inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals). Since OER is not a stand-alone goal but is related to overarching values, such as human rights (United Nations (1948), equity, and social justice, this conceptual paper explores how these are interconnected and how both the SDGs and the five goals can be achieved. The proposed model is new and clearly needed in research on this topic.

Open Educational Resources aim to offer learning to all, yet the language level used in resources could be a barrier to many potential learners. This paper examines the readability of 200 OER courses in English from two major OER course platforms. We compared the means of readability metrics between these OER courses at different educational levels and subject categories that the platforms offer using inferential statistics as well as cluster analyses. Results prove that there is a progression of difficulty between lower and higher educational levels with introductory courses being easier to read. However, the analysis also highlighted that more than 86% of the courses require an advanced level of English language proficiency. On the other hand, subject matter does not appear to be linked with the readability of the courses. This study contributes further to the current discussion of the inclusiveness of OER and the factors that hinder its universal use. The study addresses a gap in the literature as, to our knowledge, no other studies have analysed the linguistic accessibility of OER English learners and consideration of the meaning of the educational levels assigned to OER courses has been limited.

The adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) can, on the one hand, increase access and quality in higher education, but on the other hand it is raising concerns among universities and researchers about its economic sustainability. This is mainly because, unlike traditional online learning, in OER-based approaches learners do not have to pay to access learning resources, however the institution incurs costs for the production, maintenance and dissemination of OER. In this context, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has urgently called for more research on OER sustainability models in its 2019 OER recommendation. To contribute to a better understanding of this issue, this paper used the triangulation method to investigate the potential OER sustainability models that are currently implemented by universities, along with their challenges and possible developments. Through a comprehensive literature review and a 2-round Delphi method with thirty OER experts, ten OER sustainability models have been identified and analysed, where public and internal funding are the most established ones. The findings of this study could support organisations in developing their own OER sustainability strategy, facilitating OER adoption worldwide and therefore contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To reduce the cost of educational materials needed by students, we generated a no-cost open educational resources (OER) textbook for an undergraduate level cell biology course. Cell biology is part of the curriculum in various undergraduate degrees for science, technology, engineering, and math majors, therefore generation of OER targets a large population of students. In addition to cost reduction, we unified the textbook content with course learning outcomes to ensure that the students have a clear understanding of course goals. To assess student perceptions of OER materials and their experiences related to learning outcomes, surveys were administered to students enrolled in sections of cell biology using a traditional textbook and those enrolled in sections using the OER. Data showed positive student attitudes about learning, accessibility, and cost of OER, supporting the use of no-cost OER in undergraduate classrooms and beyond.

Evidence that open educational resources (OER) can decrease college students' educational cost without harm to their course performance on different subjects has been well documented, but student motivation to use OER for learning is underexplored. This study investigated college students' achievement goals of using OER from the perspective of expectancy-value theory. We recorded the survey responses of 246 college students in an education course at a public university in the southeast of the United States of America for analysis. We established a structural equation model to investigate the relationship between their task value beliefs in using OER and their course achievement goals. The findings show that the students' perceived usefulness of OER positively predicted their mastery-approach goals but negatively predicted their performance-approach goals. In addition, their self-estimated cost of learning with OER predicted their mastery-avoidance goals. We discuss practical implications for facilitating college students' motivation toward using OER.

Based on a descriptive research design, this study examined the variables of the levels of awareness, attitude and ethical concern in relation to faculty members in Nigerian universities and Open Educational Resources (OER). Against the backdrop of the five hypotheses raised and tested, findings indicated significant status-induced differences in how faculty members perceived OER and their ethical concern towards it. The analysis further showed that the benefits of OER ([beta] = 0545) contributed more to the prediction of ethical concern. Moreover, academics' awareness, attitude, and willingness contributed significantly to the emergence of OER initiatives. The study highlighted further academic staff benefits of OER in Nigerian universities. Consequently, it is recommended that universities and libraries need to fully embrace OER initiatives focusing on policy development, even as libraries undertake more aggressive awareness and advocacy programmes on OER among faculty members.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are regularly adopted, yet questions persist about efficacy. Do OER improve student performance? Research produces ambiguous results, because these are derived from small sample sizes, inadequate efficacy measures, and neglect of interactional effects. We examine the effect of OER on student grades using over 500,000 courses, including 72,000 students during four years (2017-2020), from a community college in the Northeast of the USA. Relying on logistic regression models, we test the probability of passing and passing with the highest grade. Students who participate in OER initiatives have higher odds of both. Concurrently, these odds are affected by demographic and academic factors. The odds of passing are higher in OER classes for students in good academic standing, entry level, face-to-face classes. The odds of passing with a high grade are more nuanced. Minoritized students in advanced level, in-person OER courses are more likely to earn a "B." White students in entry level, online, non-OER courses are more likely to earn an "A." Overall, OER help most students pass up to a "B." However, they fall short of helping select students reach an "A." If OER are to replace traditional textbooks, more efforts are needed for maximal productivity.

Open Educational Resources (OER) could be used by educators and learners for online teaching and learning. All over the world, various OER repositories and directories curate OER in various subjects. However, little is known about their quality, popularity and usage. This paper investigates and analyses qualitatively and quantitatively 13 well-known repositories of OER (ROER) from the users' point of view. The following web traffic analytics tools were used: Google MobileFriendly, Google PageSpeed Insights, OpenLink Profiler, SimilarWeb, and WAVE. Most of these ROER curate OER and links pointing to OER of multiple types, multiple languages, multiple disciplines (subjects), and multiple educational levels. Also, almost all of them provide mobile friendly design, some form of OER quality evaluation, and facilities so that anyone can search them for OER and their members can interact, communicate, and collaborate among themselves. However, most of them provide poor speed and their information about their OER does not always correspond to the reality. Most of these ROER have registered members and social media followers, and are well recognised by thousands of websites that point to them. Thousands of users visit these ROER. On average, visitors visit 3.6 pages and spend 2.6 minutes per visit in an ROER.

This essay proposes a novel approach to developing shared educational resources for higher education. Building on characteristics of successful moves to open access in scholarly publishing, it scopes a network of discipline-based cross-institutional hubs for finding, sharing and reusing educational outputs. As well as creating repositories of content, these pilot hubs would help to create structures and processes that allow scholars to share and reuse educational outputs with confidence. The essay considers the broader scholarly and regulatory environment within which these hubs would sit, possible mechanisms for developing the hubs, and the ways in which a richer shared educational environment might benefit academics and students. It acknowledges the tension between the aspirations of 'open education' and the more limited version of shared resources proposed, but suggests that establishing conventions and structures is an important stepping stone towards a genuinely open educational environment.

This study compared course passing and completion rates of undergraduate students to determine if there was any relationship between use of open educational resources (OER) and these two outcomes. Students who took OER courses and faculty who taught with OER shared their perceptions of the impact of such resources on learning outcomes and teaching methods. The quantitative analysis revealed that using OER had a positive impact on course passing rates (7 percent increase) and completion rates (10 percent increase) for all students. The qualitative analysis revealed the student perception that OER had some positive impact on their course participation and ability to pass, but less influence on course completion. Faculty perceived little to no increase in passing or completion rates. As a result of OER, students and faculty observed a significant increase in student engagement, and all faculty reported an evolution in pedagogical approaches.

Using open educational resources (OERs) in collaborative online international learning (COIL) courses provides students and faculty the opportunity to share content, enhance knowledge, and develop intercultural competence across geopolitical and other boundaries. Faculty perceptions at the research site regarding benefits and challenges of using OER are consistent with positive findings of other OER research that validate its potential. This case study describes experiences of two college courses taught with different international partners. It shares the journey of co-planning, implementing, and revising assignments highlighting OER instructional materials. Technology and accessibility considerations influence the curricular decisions for each course. They demonstrate how the timely availability of relevant OER content can be particularly impactful for international learning environments like COIL. The article underscores the faculty-librarian-instructional designer collaboration throughout the project and offers suggestions for future study.

This qualitative study explored the emotional trajectories students experienced when faced with open educational resources (OER) that expanded the learning available from a required textbook. Data included students' reflections, group discussions, and interviews, along with field notes which were collected in a classroom at a Chinese university in one semester. The study showed that students' initial positive emotions arose from their understanding of their own learning needs. Their positive emotions toward the conjugated use of OER and a textbook fluctuated over the semester but were gradually enhanced through their involvement in classroom practices (e.g., knowledge building and teacher mediation). Through the process, students' positive and negative emotions respectively facilitated and hampered their learning practices; however, negative emotions were not always detrimental--they also facilitated students' learning. Students' emotions gradually stabilized in the direction of being positive, especially in tandem with: (1) achievement of sufficient knowledge gained through OER-based textbook use and teacher-mediated learning; and (2) their augmented confidence in proficiently using the new knowledge to navigate their practices.

This research investigates the factors that impact students' perceptions of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education. This study examines the factors that impact the student perception of these materials to add to the pedagogical discussion surrounding the increased use of OER resources as a method of improving student access to education. This study looked at factors regarding student, course and university characteristics. The results suggest that feelings of connectivity to the course, a preference for lower costs of education, likelihood to rate faculty members higher, and preferences for online courses contribute to positive student perceptions of open educational course materials, however factors such as income or perceptions of monetary benefit show little effect.

Since their launch in 2002, open educational resources (OER) developed by the Innovative Resources for Instructional Success, better known as the IRIS Center, have become a staple of teacher preparation programs. In the spring of 2019, a survey of users revealed a diversity of ways teacher educators incorporate IRIS Center OERs within their preparation programs. This article describes these innovative applications and presents a snapshot of who IRIS users are and which IRIS Center OERs are most frequently used.

Students with blindness or visual impairment face learning barriers in the typical higher education classroom where a great deal of information is conveyed visually. Instructors can use a variety of strategies to accommodate such students and make visually presented information accessible. One common and inexpensive strategy is the use of tactile graphics, which are graphics created with raised lines or bumps printed on special paper. However, due to the ways tactile information is processed, pedagogically these two-dimensional tactile graphics are not always ideal for understanding course concepts and developing mental models. We describe the benefits and logistics of a promising recent technology, 3D printing, that can benefit visually impaired students. The use of 3D printable designs shared as open educational resources can increase accessibility in the higher education classroom, even for instructors who have no interest in designing tactile learning aids themselves. The technology allows for incremental, iterative improvement and customization. For examples, we describe our experience using a 3D printed learning object in an introductory statistics course with a blind student, and we also describe our experience teaching an interdisciplinary service-learning course in which student teams worked with visually impaired individuals to design new 3D printable educational models.

This study investigated Undergraduates' Attitude towards the utilization of OER [Open Educational Resources] among Undergraduates and the influence of gender and area of specialization on their attitude towards the use. The study adopted a descriptive method of the quantitative research. 3 research questions were developed and answered. 398 respondents were randomly sampled from 3 purposively selected area of specializations. Frequency counts, percentage, rank order and mean were used to answer research questions 1 to 3. The findings of the study were: Undergraduates have a positive attitude towards utilization of OER for learning; There was difference between male and female undergraduates' attitude towards the utilization of OER for learning in favor of male undergraduates; and There were no significance differences among undergraduates based on Area of Specialization. The study concluded that students have a positive attitude towards use of OER for learning. The research recommends that institutions should endeavor to create their own OERs where students can access anytime and anywhere.

This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project "'Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures--EduArc,'" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries' political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country's context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.