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It has been suggested that open educational resources (OER) can lower cost and lead to greater flexibility; however, while there has been significant investment in opening up content there have been few studies looking at how these resources are perceived by those who might use them. This article contributes to fill a gap in our knowledge of how K-12 educators teaching in face-to-face, online and blended contexts currently think about and use OER. It is part of the research carried out by the Hewlett-funded OER Research Hub (OERRH) Project to examine the impact of OER on teaching and learning practices. The authors report findings from an international survey of over 600 teachers who answered a set of attitudinal and behavioural questions in relation to how they use OER, what types of OER they use, and what influences their selection of content, in addition to the purpose, challenges and perceived impact of OER in the K-12 classroom. The research highlights how teachers adapt rather than simply adopt OER, suggesting a strong connection between OER use and personalized learning, and argues that mainstreaming OER in K-12 education is not only a matter of raising awareness but of changing teachers' habits.

This article identifies the main social contributions of Open Educational Resources (OERs), their impact and the results of several initiatives related to them. Based on a theoretical and reflexive framework, we analyze the evolution of business models around OERs, their contribution to open knowledge and the common educational policies related to this phenomenon. Finally, we point out the new horizons and models of knowledge based on OERs. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilizes a theoretical and conceptual framework based on references coming from journals with an impact factor, complemented with quotes by important authors and OER representatives. The review offers a conceptual and applied overview regarding the business models around OERs, their contribution to open knowledge and their impact on current society. Because the study is not empirical, the authors justify their statements on existing scientific literature with high academic impact. Practical implications include knowledge about the OER phenomenon, its social contributions, and the economic models established around it. [Edited by Lílian do Valle, Daniel Mill and Aldo Victorio Filho.]

Education is a fundamental human right, yet one fifth of the world's population lives with poor literacy. India is home to the largest number of illiterate people, with infrastructural, cultural, and socio-economic factors hindering equitable access to quality education. Due to the rapidly growing technology and Internet usage in the country, open educational resources (OER) are increasingly being used as a vital tool to help transcend barriers to child literacy, also aiding in educational attainment. While an array of scholarly works provides evidence of the potential in OER to influence higher education outcomes in developing nations, academic analysis of their impact on primary level education attainment has been minimal. This paper retrieve lessons from three children's content providing organizations to understand the opportunities and challenges of OER in primary-level education in developing nations with similar cultural, infrastructural, and socio-economic issues. While the findings of this study suggest that the use of OER allows for greater distribution and scale across different cultural and linguistic settings, particularly in rural and remote regions, they also warn against the adaptation and pedagogical barriers of OER into societies where traditional modes of education are established and trusted.

Kenya, like many African countries, has faced enormous challenges in the production of and access to quality relevant teaching and learning materials and resources in primary and secondary school classrooms. This has been occasioned by a plethora of factors which include, but are not limited to, lack of finances, tradition, competence, and the experience to develop such resources. Such a situation has persisted despite the existence and availability of many Open Educational Resources (OERs) that have been developed by education stakeholders at enormous cost. Such freely available resources could potentially improve the quality of existing resources or help to develop new courses. Yet, their uptake and reuse in secondary and primary schools in Kenya continues to be very low. This paper reports the findings of a study in which Open Resources for English Language Teaching (ORELT) developed by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, were piloted in a sample of fifty (50) Kenyan secondary schools. The study applied the Model 1--Distance and Dependence (Zhao et al. 2002) model to investigate the challenges that instructors face in adopting and using ORELT materials. The study reported that poor infrastructure, negative attitudes, lack of ICT competencies, and other skill gaps among teachers, as well as lack of administrative support, are some of the challenges experienced in the adoption and use of OERs in Kenyan schools. The findings of the present study will provide useful insights to developers of OERs and Kenyan education stakeholders in devising strategies to optimise utilisation of OERs in the Kenyan school system.

Education as an investment constitutes the largest enterprise in Nigeria. It is the principal instrument for academic progress, social mobilization, political survival and effective national development of any country. Investment in education is a necessary condition for promotion of economic growth and national development. Educational institutions including schools are established and managed essentially to achieve certain stated goals and objectives. There is no way the goal and objectives of an educational institution can be achieved without putting in place certain mechanisms towards ensuring the success of such institutions. In the school system, part of the integral pre-requisites to be put in place towards the actualization of the educational goal and objectives requires adequate provision of resources, maximum utilization and appropriate management of education resources to avoid wastages and improve the quality of the teaching-learning process in the academic environment. This paper therefore examined the concept of school administration and education resources, classification of education resources, relevance of education resources in the school system, challenges associated with the availability and utilization of resources in the school. Solutions were adduced on how to overcome the identified challenges so as to ensure effective and efficient management of available resources in the school system.

Courses at the postsecondary level continue to rely heavily on visual material that is accessible only to fully or partially sighted students. Tactile graphics work for many pedagogical purposes, but in some cases are insufficient; other information and concepts may be better conveyed through haptic exploration of 3D printed objects. However, there is a dearth of 3D-printable open educational resources for college-level content. To address this need while simultaneously teaching students about accessibility and universal design, we designed and taught an experimental course in which students (a) learned about disability in general and blindness in particular (including history and advocacy); (b) explored technology used by people with visual impairment; (c) heard from many blind voices, including guest experts and community members; (d) studied universal design; and (e) designed 3D-printable educational tactile models in collaboration with blind community members. By the end, students demonstrated significantly less bias and more positive attitudes about blindness and people with visual impairment, and were more confident with accessibility, universal design, and assistive technology. We believe this course can serve as a model for similar courses elsewhere as a strategy to teach students from any major about disability, accessibility, and universal design.

Extended reality (XR), which encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), offers powerful affordances for improving teaching and learning experiences in a post-pandemic world. Increasingly, many governments and institutions around the world are making major investments in XR technologies to prepare education systems for the future. However, many of these investments remain isolated pilot projects which, while they attest to the potential of XR in education, are unlikely to be scaled up due to lack of sustainability and collaboration. Based on literature and empirical evidence, I have identified major barriers to the wider adoption of XR in education, including the lack of (a) open content, tools, and skills; (b) sound pedagogy and instructional design; and (c) scalability and sustainability. As a potential solution, I introduce the Open XR for Education Framework (OXREF), an empirical framework that proposes a holistic solution to XR object creation, implementation, and deployment, while covering pedagogical, technological, and policy perspectives. The contribution of the OXREF is its ability to build fit-for-purpose XR experiences in a scalable, sustainable, and collaborative manner while promoting openness, accessibility, equity, and reuse. The novelty of the proposed framework is its use of open educational resources (OER), open educational practices (OEP), as well as free and open-source software (FOSS) tools and platforms. Its cloud-based infrastructure and open licenses support viable operationalization strategies that can be implemented by educational institutions and governments.

The development of web-based technologies in recent decades has provided ready access to a wealth of on-line educational resources, and despite concerns that availability of on-line recorded lectures impacts on-campus attendance, we believe there needs to be more focus on the learning resources students engage with, along with why and how they use these resources. Our survey of first year science and mathematics students found that more than 80% of on-campus and off-campus students engaged with [greater than or equal to]75% of lectures by attending face-to-face and/or viewing on-line lectures. And when asked about their use of external resources, 80% of students reported using YouTube and/or Open Educational Resources, amongst other on-line resources, to provide increased understanding of content and to view worked problems. Knowing that a large percentage of students will seek out additional on-line resources, we conclude that ensuring all students have well developed on-line search skills and the ability to critically assess the quality of on-line resources are important contributions that teaching staff can make to student learning.

Open educational resources are not available "as such". Their provision relies on a technological infrastructure of related services that can be described as an informational ecosystem. A closed informational ecosystem keeps educational resources within its boundary. An open informational ecosystem relies on the concurrence of independent stakeholders that jointly provide (meta-) information also beyond its boundaries. Mechanisms of open informational ecosystems are described and how they contribute to the delivery of educational resources and to opening education. The paper describes the case of the German Bildungsserver that aims at establishing a federated network of providers of open and closed educational resources. It points out that the design of (inter-)national informational ecosystems has a major influence on the future of open educational resources in education.

Modern professional education in the transition to a tiered system of specialists training is focused not on the transfer of ready knowledge but on teaching to find this knowledge and to apply them in situations close to the professional conditions. The educational process, relying on use of interactive methods of teaching, which is organized with involvement of all students of the group, without exception, in the learning process, facilitates this. The problem of introduction of interactive forms of teaching in the educational process of higher education institutions is considered in the article, the experience of use of interactive technologies in electronic educational resources of physico-mathematical faculty of the Elabuga Institute of the Kazan (Volga region) Federal University is presented. On the basis of the received results the importance of the developed electronic educational resources in the context of the competence-based approach to training of bachelors, increase of their competitiveness is proved.

Educational relations between societies and cultures that begin with benevolent intentions can come to be seen as threats to national autonomy and local preferences. Indeed, side by side with the growth since the first years of this century of Open Educational Resources (OER) there has been worry about their impact on global educational development. Evaluation and research have lagged behind the steady expansion of access to online resources, leaving estimates of the value of digital innovation to the enthusiasm of OER providers and technology minded educational reformers. The advent of the "Massive Open Online Course" (or MOOC) has exacerbated the problem, with attention moving toward a form of OER reflecting the enthusiasm of leading institutions in industrialized nations. The American led movement on behalf of the MOOC requires new questions about the motives, impact, and future of OER. This essay accounts for the history of OER, culminating in the MOOC, including how the latter in particular is an expression of American pedagogical and institutional interests representing belief in the transformative educational powers of the latest communications technologies. Criticism of OER and MOOCs can reflect organizational, operational, and ideological considerations. But it should recognize what they offer when there are few other opportunities for formal learning, and as research demonstrates their uses and impact.

This article provides an overview of the current state of repositories of open educational resources (ROER) in higher education at international level. It analyses a series of educational indicators to determine whether ROER can meet the specific needs of the education context, and to clarify understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OER) provided by ROER. The aim of the study is to assess ROER by combining these two perspectives, and to form a basis for discussion among the universities that are responsible for these repositories. The method was based on content analysis and consisted of two phases: an exploration of international sources, and an analysis of 110 ROER using the proposed set of indicators. The results focus on data from the analysis of ROER websites and some models of good practices. They are presented according to three core dimensions for evaluating ROER: general factors to establish types of ROER, a focus on drivers for OER reuse, and a focus on educational aspects. It was found that most of the ROER that included one or more of the proposed reuse indicators were created exclusively for educational resources. Educational aspects are not yet firmly embedded into ROER. The few repositories that seem to have successfully included them are those that provide other educational metadata and use educational standards.

This paper presents how virtual containers enhance the implementation of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) subjects as Open Educational Resources (OER). The publication initially summarizes the limitations of delivering open rich learning contents and corresponding assignments to students in college level STEAM areas. The role that virtual containers can play in current distant education is then discussed, starting by reviewing related teaching efforts around the use of legacy virtual machines. We then focus on the superseding container technology and how it can bridge the gap between online students, humble computing resources, teachers and IT specificities. As a practical example, we present an experience carried out at the online School of Engineering & Technology at Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR). Within the context of a subject about Physics for Computing Engineers, we describe the satisfactory evolution from using conventional software distribution methods towards the transition to virtual containers. Thanks to this virtualization approach, the necessary student activities can be implemented, the required software tools can be easily distributed, and the accompanying documentation can be seamlessly presented. The results show how student engagement and satisfaction increased over time, partly because of the easiness introduced by the container technology. Our experience proves that combining containerized educational resources and free and open distribution channels can be one of the cornerstones of a new OER approach in STEAM subjects.

The area of learning has a justifiable claim to be a special case in how it can be enhanced or supported by technology. In areas such as commerce and web design the aim is usually to ensure efficiency and support specific actions such as purchasing or accessing information as quickly and easily as possible. Working with technology for the purpose of learning, the user is expected to spend time facing challenges, struggling through them and in almost every case the interaction with the technology is only one of many influences in achieving success. This does not mean that computing and the Internet has not had a major impact on how we learn and the choices available to learners. On the contrary, the area of formal learning is undergoing a period of rapid change, and the barriers between formal and informal learning are showing signs of falling away, in part due to the changes in the access to information or alternative modes of delivery. The influence of technology on pedagogy (the manner or structure of teaching) is complex. There is relatively little direct research on the ways that technological possibilities and the pedagogical response to these operate to benefit the lifelong learner. In this article we are bringing together the evidence from strands of research based on work in online and distance learning in formal settings, and also on open and free online education, which is often less formal. This research sheds light on several factors relevant to the outcomes of instruction: the often unpredictable motivations of learners, the trajectories they take through courses, and the indicators for success in formal and informal learning, in terms of both pedagogy and technology. We present the outcomes of practical endeavours to widen access to education using technology which indicate that open education is offering alternative ways of supporting learners. These suggest a focus on design decisions that can help integrate the process of learning more closely with ways in which online systems currently support learning and the data that can be used to interpret how well those designs are working.

With increased emphasis on accessibility and quality education in tertiary institutions, open and distance learning (ODL) is occupying the center stage in Nigeria. Open educational resources (OERs) is becoming a valuable alternative to improving access to high-quality educational content released under open licenses by outstanding universities worldwide. Some conventional universities in Nigeria now offer both face-to-face and ODL courses, making them dual-mode. However, the universities who employ this dual-mode system are faced with the challenges of developing viable ODL courses. This study examined the extent the courseware developers in these universities in Nigeria use and publish their courses as OER and barriers to the effective utilization and publishing of OER especially in their institutional repositories (IR). The research instrument was designed as a descriptive survey. The sample for the study consists of 73 courseware developers selected from four dual-mode universities in Nigeria. The findings of the study showed that course developers in dual-mode universities do not use OER to a high extent nor publish OER to a high extent in their IR. It was observed that they experience more barriers with publishing of OER than with use of OER. Among others, it is recommended that there should be more awareness around this framework and course developers should be encouraged through incentives for greater participation in the use and publishing of OER in IRs.

In modern education, self-directed learning (SDL) is paramount. SDL empowers learners, OERs democratize access, and AI chatbots, as virtual companions, offer enriched learning experiences. Balancing AI's advantages and challenges in education is vital. This paper explores AI chatbots' role in promoting SDL and student autonomy, highlighting their potential to guide and empower learners in navigating the knowledge landscape. By uncovering this potential, the study encourages educators and learners to embrace AI chatbots as partners in achieving self-directed, limitless education.

Open Educational Resources (OER) and their offspring, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), are becoming important factors in achieving the "Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education" ("SDG4"). The OER movement is less than 15 years old and is growing rapidly as more and more nations and institutions adopt the view that publicly-funded research and educational content belongs to the people and should therefore be open and accessible to them. Canada can play an important role in supporting SDG4 by increasing its support for OER and open education in general, both in Canada and abroad. OER can be a significant aid in ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and can promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. OER, by their very nature as freely available and usable learning resources, can be considered important, if not essential, for supporting the expressed goals in all areas of education. From pre-kindergarten to lifelong learning, including technical and vocational training, OER can have significant impact. Governments can better support free K12 education financially because the OER are available at no cost. They can be taken "as is" or modified and they can be made available to all. This includes all levels from early childhood to secondary school. One of the biggest boosts to literacy is the open availability of OER. They not only assist in promoting literacy education, they actually can serve as an incentive. Finally, OER can be used to help ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity, and of culture's contribution to sustainable development. OER can be child, disability, and gender sensitive, and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all, including diverse Indigenous communities. And if not, OER can be altered and or modified to be so.

The purpose of this study is to explore K-12 teachers' awareness of open educational resources (OER) as well as their perceptions of its potential opportunities and challenges for teaching practices. Data were gathered from 99 online survey respondents and six interviewees in this study. Findings showed that teachers are aware of OER to a certain degree; however, a misunderstanding exists between digital educational content on the Internet and openly licensed content compatible with the OER definition. Lack of knowledge regarding licensing mechanisms of OER is a major issue among teachers. Whereas, teacher perceptions that the use of OER leads to the improvement in student performance is highly beneficial, the time required to search, select, edit, and apply OER was discovered as the greatest challenge to OER utilization. Results of this study can inform potential OER movement contributors, such as teacher professional development specialists, developers of OER repositories, and academics interested in OER.

In order to obtain a fair "OER picture" for the Global South a large-scale study has been carried out for a series of countries, including Kenya. In this paper we report on the Kenya study, run at four universities that have been selected with randomly sampled students and lecturers. Empirical data have been generated by the use of a student and a lecturer questionnaire to which in total 798 students and 43 lecturers have responded. Selected from the very rich source two major outcomes are: (i) there is a significant digital differentiation among lecturers and students at urban versus rural universities in terms of their proficiency and internet accessibility; and (ii) the awareness and appreciation of the OER concept and open licensing is low but from the actual processing by respondents of educational resources (not necessarily open) a 'preparedness for openness' can be derived that promises well for the future. [This paper was presented at the 2017 Open Education Consortium Global Conference, held in Cape Town (South Africa) in March 8th-10th 2017.]

How do we ensure that all students have the tools and resources they need to succeed in today's educational context? In this article, we explore how the right to education generally and to specific educational tools and resources in California have been protected through litigation in the past; how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed technology-based educational inequities in our system that were previously unacknowledged; and, we propose strategies that educational leaders and legislators who seek to provide equality of educational opportunity may consider in the distribution of educational resources moving forward.

During the pandemic three widespread shifts in teaching cultures affected digital writing pedagogies: resilient teaching, open teaching, and inclusive teaching. Resilient teaching design emerged as a strategy to counter the unpredictability of public health policies on class delivery modes, and emphasised designing for maximising student interactions as a response. Open teaching started as a response to a lack of access to textbooks and evolved to transform functions normally reserved for teaching into learning activities. In addition, inclusive teaching practices, developed as a response to racial and social injustices, resulted in deliberate emphasis on class structure to incorporate all students. Although seemingly disparate and disconnected from the issues of technology that normally influence the teaching of digital writing, each shift focused on student needs and predict a future for digital writing pedagogy.

This study aimed to discover the roles and competencies of online English instructors as perceived by their students. Participants consisted of eight students enrolled in a basic English course in Turkey, who were taking the course online. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data, which were analyzed using the content analysis technique with the help of Nvivo software. As a result of the study, roles of facilitator and leader; and competencies of delivering the content effectively, using varied teaching methods, activities and materials, fostering interaction, ensuring participation, having basic ICT skills, integrating technology into teaching effectively, offering and getting feedback, attracting attention, creating open and friendly environment, adjusting tone of voice, pre-class preparation, being aware of student profile and teaching accordingly, giving and checking assignments, motivating, being accessible, classroom and time management, evaluating effectiveness of the course, seeking ways for professional development, and adopting a favorable attitude towards teaching online were addressed by the students. However, the students asserted that their instructors do not perform most of these roles and competencies because of the challenges such as poorness of technical and technological infrastructure, interaction problems, lack of teacher readiness, and student profile. The students highlighted the necessity of a solid technical and technological infrastructure, and teacher development trainings on online teaching issues.

As the shift to distance learning was abrupt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, neither university students nor instructors were fully prepared. There was a real demand, therefore, for adopting principles that belong to Education 3.0 in higher education institutions as this pandemic might not be the last. This study aimed at evaluating to what extent the principles of Education 3.0 based on the heutagogical approach could be applied at universities. To achieve this target, a mixed approach was followed by utilizing two instruments; a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. A total of (200) students and (10) instructors from Birzeit University (BZU) were the participants. Data that emerged from the questionnaire were statistically analyzed, whereas the interviewees' responses were qualitatively content-analyzed and grouped into main themes. The findings revealed that some principles of Education 3.0 have not been fully applied yet at BZU, such as supporting the learners' self-determination; the individualization of teaching methods and strategies; blending synchronous online teaching mode with the face-to-face; empowering and coaching students to build personal learning environments with using multiple tools of authentic and real-life evaluations. Accordingly, it was recommended that universities worldwide as well as other higher education institutions should adopt the principles of Education 3.0 to make the shift to distance learning smooth for both students and instructors, especially by using flexible curricula and open learning resources; empowering students to determine their needs, objectives and personal learning environments; individualizing the teaching methods; and avoiding "One-size fits all" strategies.

During the pandemic period, the education sector was heavily impacted involving transformations of instructional delivery from face-to-face to online mode. To date, we know that the virtual learning environment has been posing heavy demands particularly on the students. Learning from their own homes, they had to learn in isolation, deprived from the support of the instructor and peers as in conventional classrooms. As we continue to pursue online program offerings beyond the pandemic period, it is important to address students' sense of isolation and their efforts to stay engaged in learning. This study aims to identify the extent to which the challenges students faced in a virtual learning environment during the pandemic, have impacted their intention to effectively use the online learning method. Respondents for this study consist of students in one private university. This study employs a quantitative method. A set of questionnaire survey was administered online with a return of 367 respondents. The research data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Smart PLS. The findings gathered indicate that self-regulation, students' sense of isolation and lack of learning resources significantly impact their intention to effectively use e-learning methods. It is thus evident that students' intention to learn effectively must be supported by factors outside of themselves, to keep them highly motivated, disciplined, as well as proactive through self-directed learning.

Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is the use of a computer or other technology which provides education courses or training for students, such as online courses, off-line content, or mixed-mode delivery. The current study aims at developing a model to examine the effect of resource availability and students' subject interest on students' intention to adopt TEL. The data were collected from 157 students at the University of Ha'il and analyzed using a two-step AMOS; confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to develop the measurement model, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to analyze and test the relationships among constructs in the model. The results showed that both resource availability and students' subject interest have a significant positive effect on students' intention to use TEL. This study may assist decision makers and developers in universities and other higher education institutions and deepen their understanding of factors which may affect students' adoption and usage of TEL.

This study aims to determine the existing digital literacy notions of Filipino preservice in two universities: one is a resource-rich context while the other is a resource-limited context. Contexts were determined based on the observed availability of digital tools. Twenty (20) preservice teachers each from two universities were invited for interviews after which they were again requested to arrange statements culled from the interviews. Utilizing the Q-sort methodology, a method that determines the standpoints of participants by their ranking of statements, three dimensions were identified: the portrait of balance, portrait of responsibility and portrait of support. The portraits represent the themes identified after participants determined the ranking of their statements. As evidenced on the results, the pre-service students in the resource-rich context identified themselves with the portrait of support and responsibility while those from the resource-limited context concentrated heavily on the portrait of balance. The differences in the viewpoints identified how the preservice teachers' access to resources has impacted their cognition of digital literacy.

Objectives: Rapid advancements in information processing and technology are causing transformations in education at an unprecedented pace. The use of digital resources is becoming essential for educators to ensure the effectiveness of their teaching. There is thus a need to transform ways and means of educating teachers to meet the new challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that determine teacher intention to use digital resources in classroom teaching. Method: The study adopted a single cross-sectional design, in which questionnaires with pre-established scales were completed by 276 university teachers from three major public universities in the Kashmir region of India. The collected data were subjected to descriptive, correlation, and regression analysis. Results: Findings suggest that intention to use digital resources in the classroom is significantly influenced by teachers' perceptions of their own competence, perceived usefulness and ease of use of technology and digital resources, and peer influence. Among these factors, perceived competence exerts the strongest influence. Results indicate that perceived social image has no significant impact on intention to use digital resources. Conclusions: The study supports the view that teacher competence and peer influence are two key determining factors for the use of digital resources. Additionally, it demonstrates that digital resources must be perceived to offer potential benefits and ease of use in order to gain widespread acceptance among teachers. Implications: This research advances the understanding of digital resource adoption in classroom teaching, particularly in developing countries like India. The findings provide critical direction to policymakers and digital resource developers to enhance use of digital resources in classroom teaching by prioritizing the development of useful and user-friendly resources. Moreover, universities should organize training programs to enhance teachers' proficiency in utilizing digital resources for effective teaching.

Digital task design is an important issue when integrating technology into mathematics education. However, existing frameworks often are not fine-grained enough for supporting teachers in designing tasks or they only focus on geometric topics. In this paper, we share a case study as the first cycle of our design-based research study that aims to extend and adapt the well-known Dynamic Geometry Task Analysis framework for analyzing further digital materials. The adapted framework is named Digital Task Analysis (DTA) model and can be utilized to analyze, modify, and design digital materials from other mathematical topics. The model focuses on supporting teachers in integrating two essential aspects within digital materials, namely creating cognitively stimulating tasks and exploiting added value of technology. In this paper, we present the first analyses of three cases representing digital materials including visualizations addressing lower secondary mathematics following the DTA model. The results show that the presented DTA model is suitable to analyze such digital materials and has the potential to support teachers in designing, assessing, and modifying digital tasks that support learners in focusing their attention on mathematically relevant aspects of digital resources, and in deepening their awareness of how to formulate targeted tasks for learners.

This study explored university lecturers 'feelings, awareness, and attitudes toward Open Education Resources (OERs). The study focused on two higher learning institutions based in Tanzania. It was conducted through a quantitative approach. Data were collected using a questionnaire from 52 lecturers who were purposively selected. The collected data were subjected to Statistical Product and Service Solutions version 20 computer program for calculation of descriptive Statistics. A descriptive analysis was used to analyze the obtained data, which were then presented in frequencies and percentages in tables. Findings indicate that the sampled lecturers from the higher learning institutions are moderately aware of the OERs. Regarding the feelings of lecturers over the use of OER, the collected data have revealed that a majority of the lecturers believed in OERs, are happy for those who adopt their OERs, and that they feel that OERs enhance the reputation of their institutions. In terms of lecturers' attitudes toward OERs, a majority of the lecturers strongly agreed that OERs are more beneficial to the academic and research communities. The study concludes that a majority of the study participants are moderately aware of the OERs and believe in them and that they are pleased when people adopt their OERs. The study suggests that there should be training and supporting lecturers who have unfavorable sentiments towards OERs so that they can change and use the program for their academic and research activities and advancement.

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have the potential to transform and positively impact individuals, institutions, and society. As educators, we have a unique responsibility to explore opportunities and possibilities afforded by openness enabled by current technologies to reimagine and reshape current educational reality and provide a more hopeful and equitable future for all. "EdTechnica" is an openly licensed living encyclopedia that provides background information on central topics and theories in the field of educational technology. As an OER, "EdTechnica" extends the 5Rs of openness--retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute by also attending to the 3Rs of social justice--recognition, representation, and redistribution--bringing about a responsive product that reimagines what encyclopedias should be. Additionally, the governing board enacts principles of openness in its practice, striving for OEP in all its activities. This article explores how "EdTechnica" promotes knowledge creation and academic discourse by attending to key principles of openness in terms of ensuring accessibility, flexibility, justice, and sustainable generosity. Specific examples of OER/P in the "EdTechnica" context offer an insight into our practices and ambitions to improve the current educational landscape, illustrating what is possible at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology when we strive for openness and are guided by the values of sustainable generosity and sustainable improvement.

While massive open online courses (MOOCs) promise to democratise access to education, the literature reveals a nuanced understanding of engagement in these settings, especially in resource-constrained environments. Blended MOOCs combine MOOCs and physical classroom settings of contents and instructions. This study extends this discourse by focusing on blended MOOCs, which remain under-explored in the context of developing countries. The blended MOOC at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana, deals with third-party MOOCs as open educational resources (OERs) integrated with campus-based courses. UCC students have been using such blended MOOCs since 2016, when all level 100 students were mandated to enrol in a course entitled Information Technology Skills (ITS101). ITS101 is aligned to courses in a MOOC platform called Alison as an OER. Students' engagement is key to their continued use and satisfaction with online learning, such as MOOCs. However, among all the e-learning modes, students' engagement is the lowest in MOOCs, leading to high dropout rates. Blended MOOCs are one of the techniques recommended to reverse the undesirability of MOOCs, including engagement. However, few studies have been conducted on students' engagement in blended MOOCs, especially among university students in sub-Saharan Africa using MOOCs as OERs. Thus, this paper aims to measure student engagement in blended MOOCs using the revised Community of Inquiry for university students in a developing country. The rationale is to determine whether factors affect engagement positively or negatively. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to determine the participants for this study. A list of blended MOOC classes offered at UCC was obtained from the staff's mailing list. In the first stage, academic levels (100, 200, 300 and 800) were randomly selected from the strata using a lottery sampling technique. In the second stage, another simple random selection of blended MOOC courses or classes was used within each selected academic level. All students in the selected classes were then included in the study. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling was used to validate the model on the predictive relationships existing among the four presences (cognitive, learning, social and teaching) and engagement. Results from the structural model analysis proved a statistically significant predictive relationship among the constructs within the model. Learning presence had the most significant effect on student engagement. Thus, it should be included as one of the presences in the community of inquiry.

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.

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.

During the Spring 2020 semester, universities around the world were forced to make quick decisions and adjustments to their learning environments to offset the COVID-19 pandemic impacts. This swift conversion of face-to-face and hybrid courses to an online/remote learning environment left higher education institutions in disarray causing them to quickly execute a transition plan that had never been deemed necessary. While some faculty were pushed into a new and unfamiliar environment, students were left scrambling to acquire trainings and resources to help with their transition. This study analyzed the impact of training and resources provided to students/faculty and how they affected students' final grades. The researchers distributed a survey at two small mid-Atlantic universities with 139 respondents at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The results of the study were analyzed to understand the overall impact on students' final grades. The outcome of the study assessed this impact to identify gaps that should be considered to better support student learning.

In this paper, the authors identify and analyze public policy and the investment and expenditure that the governments of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay commit to make in the development and procurement of textbooks, books and digital content for primary and secondary education (K-12). The aim is to identify and propose a roadmap for developing policies that advance the principles of the Paris Open Educational Resources Declaration. In the region, digital content coexists with and complements the traditional ones. Paper textbooks continue to have a leading role in the education systems of the region. In this context, the authors assess how the acquisition of traditional and digital materials occurs and offer some recommendations to the governments to adjust their public spending policies on educational resources development and procurement. [This paper was presented at the OpenCourseWare Consortium Global Conference (Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 23-25, 2014).]

The study derives from a multi-year project implemented by OER Africa. The project sought to understand how OER might be used as a catalyst for pedagogical transformation in African universities. Within a nondeterminist and interpretivist theoretical framework and an over-arching project methodology of participatory action research, the study made use of an analytical autoethnographic approach to capture and analyse data and to make recommendations. The approach was informed primarily by hermeneutics and systems thinking and involved multiple in-country engagements and the triangulation of information derived from document review, observation and iterative focus group discussions and individual interviews. The key finding of this study is the suggestion that engagement with OER is unlikely to move from being an individual to an institutional focus unless such engagement is aligned with the overall vision, mission and business model of the university.

Open educational resources (OER) are educational materials with an open license so that they can be freely copied, modified, and reused. While the rising cost of textbooks is a concern in higher education, over 50% of the surveyed educators stated that they are unaware of the OER and how they could replace the traditional textbooks. In addition, not many instructors understand the Creative Commons licenses under which OER can be used. In this work, we consider the types of OER and outline the sources of OER for business courses. We describe our experience of using such resources for innovative business courses and discuss the choices we made and the lessons learned. Finally, we share the results of surveys about OER we conducted with students and reflect on them.