Search

There are many resources to guide successful K-12 cybersecurity education. The objective of these resources is to prepare skilled and ethical cybersecurity students at the earliest level to meet the demands of higher-level programs. The goal of this article is to provide, as a starting point, a list of as many currently popular K-12 educational resources as possible. The resources provided are broken into five categories: (1) Career Information, (2) Curriculum, (3) Competitions, (4) CyberCamps, and (5) Labs and Gaming. Each resource listed has a link, the K-12 levels that are supported, whether the resource is free or has a cost, and a shortlist of topics or, for camps and competitions, the dates available. There are many teaching and learning resources for K-12 students. However, there are very few sources that combine a variety of these resources into one document. Even though this is not an exhaustive list of resources, it should be a helpful starting point as to what is available for the K-12 levels.

Open educational resources (OER) constitute a curriculum innovation that is considered revolutionary and has the potential to change the landscape of curriculum at all levels and content areas. OER have gained attention and widespread acceptance by educators and policy makers since 2002. The promise of OER is that they provide cost savings, promote collaboration, and are adaptable to the needs of teachers and students while providing a legitimate alternative to commercially produced print textbooks. Determining the relevance and viability of the movement to embrace OER requires an examination of theoretical foundations and empirical research to illuminate the effect of using OER as core curricula. While advocates promote the use of OER as a financially liberating model of curriculum and as a source of constructivist learning materials, more research is needed. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between OER and student learning. The study critically analyzed previous studies on OER and applied empirical analyses to the use of OER by a sample of middle schools. Twenty-eight middle schools from Washington State served as the subjects for the study. The study followed an ex post facto causal comparative model. Three research questions provided the focus for the study to investigate the effects of OER curriculum, duration of curriculum use, and other factors on student achievement in middle school mathematics. The results of the study found non-significant effects for OER use in relationship to school performance in mathematics, and significant effects on math scores for the variables of student poverty, curriculum duration, and cohort size.

Delivering an effective online mathematics course at the university level is more challenging than the offline mode because of the method course content's nature. One of the strategies to answer the challenges faced in an online learning environment is the utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER). This descriptive case study research investigates students' satisfaction and performance in the Open Educational Resources (OER)--integrated online calculus course. This study involved eight students who took a calculus course entirely online. The lecturer used various OER, both integrated into Canvas and during the online meetings. Students were satisfied with the online calculus course since it has met their expectations. The online course content and use of OER, classroom environment, and lecturer facilitation were three components that students find valuable. Likewise, students' performance in the online calculus course is excellent, where all students got grades A. Although students' performances in Unit Test 1 and Unit Test 2 are not as excellent as other assessments, they demonstrate active participation during the online meetings, frequently use OER, and consistently fulfill all assignments. They succeed in developing digital learning activities as their pair works and learning videos about the application of integral as their group projects.

The advent of open educational resources (OER) has increased access to pedagogical resources that promote the quality of education, but the potential of the OER to transform pedagogical practices is yet to be realized, mainly as a result of a lack of concentration on the policies and practices necessary to support the idea of openness within the academic institutions. Several exploratory attentions have been given to educators' adoption of OER, but little or none exists on university students' intention to use and motivation to create OER. This study explores university students' intention to use OER in Study 1 and motivation to create OER in Study 2 using a non-experimental research design with a survey method and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for the two studies. The findings indicated that the relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, zero price accessibility and availability, and attitude and university students' intention to use OER is significantly positive for Study 1. This showed that university students' intention to use OER can be influenced by these factors. The relationship between competence and mastery of content, personal development, reward system and motivation to create OER is significantly positive for Study 2. This implies that university students are not mere users of OER but partners in the OER crusade as creators.

Background: Educators report needing relevant and authentic climate change educational resources (CCER). National parks are informal education centers that can provide CCER for educators. However, little is known about the CCER that exist across the national parks in the United States. Purpose: To increase the knowledge in this area, this study uncovered which CCER are offered by national parks in the US, what content is covered in these resources, and their perceived affordances and constraints. Methodology/Approach: Park employees completed an online survey regarding the CCER available within their national park. The survey included closed-ended and open-ended questions. Closed-ended responses were analyzed for descriptive statistics regarding the types of CCER. Open-ended responses were analyzed for content in the CCER, perceived affordances and constraints, and future directions. Findings/Conclusions: Results show that the national parks in this study collectively offer a variety of CCER that cover a range of climate change topics. In addition to the material resources provided, national parks also provide social resources for educators. Collectively, these resources offer many educational affordances. Implications: This study suggests that science educators should consider leveraging the CCER available from national parks. In addition, national parks should consider collaborating in the development of CCER.

There are growing concerns about the affordability and accessibility of post-secondary education. This has resulted in increased attention to the inclusion of open educational resources (OERs) as course materials rather than commercial course resources. OERs are mostly cost-neutral for students. In this research, an elective course for business students was developed using only OERs. To assist with the selection of OERs to be included in this course, an OER evaluation tool available online was used. Resources that were considered and were evaluated using the tool included traditional OERs (fully open), those in the public domain (unrestricted by licensing), and resources that are publicly available for educational purposes. An important contribution of this research is the extension of the definition of OERs to include publicly available resources. This paper reports on the results of this process and students' perceptions about the inclusion of OERs in their course. Recommendations for further research and for practice are shared.

Finding affordable textbooks is a challenge within many educational contexts, including English as a foreign language (EFL) settings and English as a second language (ESL) settings, such as universities and Intensive English Programs (often referred to as IEPs) in the United States. As educators, we know it is a struggle for many of our students to pay for both English language learning classes and expensive textbooks. Open Educational Resources (OERs) can alleviate this challenge by offering high-quality, free materials. This article outlines how to find and adapt OERs and discusses a specific example of remixing OERs for the language classroom. Our hope is that other educators will be inspired to create and adapt OERs and incorporate the materials into their own teaching contexts to better serve their student populations.

The worldwide use of open educational resources (OER) has highly increased during the recent years. However, there is no clear idea about how these resources are utilized by teachers in Lebanon. Hence, this study aims at examining the extent to which the concept of OER is well known among the teachers. It also investigates the practices of OER users and explores the barriers to powerful use and sharing of OER among teachers. Nevertheless, this is quantitative research designed for analyzing the data collected from 308 teachers through an online questionnaire. The results showed that 60% of the respondents have heard about OER. Moreover, they revealed that OER users showed misunderstanding of the concept of OER due to their lack of knowledge about the open licenses. Hence, a national policy for e-learning is needed to leverage open education and ignite the power of OER by encouraging teachers to be producers of knowledge.

This paper offers overarching insights into the benefits and drawbacks of Open Educational Resources (OER) for learning communities. A semi-systematic literature review (SSLR) is used as a research approach. Data is gathered from research articles, books, and other published work, and analyzed using thematic analysis. OER and Open Educational Practices (OEP) have the potential to support sustainable educational practices, but these have not yet reached their capacities to benefit wider learning communities. It is not yet known if the global academia is prepared towards embracing OEP due to limited pieces of evidence. OE policies have been successfully adopted by a few countries, but others have failed to accept open policies due to a lack of a supportive environment. MOOCs have benefitted the academic community in many ways, but openness, equality, lifelong learning, and liberation remain major challenges. A vast number of open repositories offer free resources, but learners and teachers have been unsuccessful to develop quality learning resources due to a lack of capacity to adapt and re-use OER. Documentary evidence confirms the use of digital licenses by global learning communities, but lack of awareness, incompatibility of Creative Commons (CC) with the traditional copyright laws, and lack of uniform global policy framework have deterred OEP. The strategic implementation model of OER can potentially accelerate communities of practices in academia through capacity building for the recreation of knowledge.

Despite a culture of sharing in education, awareness of Open Educational Resources (OER) in teacher education and K-12 education is limited. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore graduate-level teacher candidates' (n = 9) understanding of OER, the value they placed on it, and their self-efficacy in sharing work openly after participating in a renewable assignment. Data collected included a survey, course artifacts, and interviews. Of the nine participants, three openly licensed their work and one shared their resource publicly on OER Commons. Further findings indicate that the participants' understanding of OER improved and they valued OER as part of their practice in both using and sharing resources. Participants indicated that they lacked teacher self-efficacy about their work for varied reasons. However, after receiving positive student outcomes and feedback from peers, participants were more open to sharing their work publicly. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their interconnected targets can only be achieved if their interactions are seriously taken into consideration. Education for sustainability is crucial for raising awareness of different stakeholders about the SDGs and their interactions. The paper discusses how teamwork creation of Open Educational Resources (OER), with their specific benefits, can contribute to closing knowledge gaps about the SDGs and their interactions. The example of OE4BW (Open Education for a Better World) international mentoring program and its energy-related hub, called the SDG7 Hub is presented and discussed, and its future development, targeting the creation of OER to close the SDG7-related knowledge gaps, is suggested. The resulting guidelines are generalized to provide a further increase of OER's contribution to the achievement of SDGs.

The abundance of technology nowadays is contributing to the development of learning practices. This gives learners greater opportunity to find, access, and use resources to benefit learning. Open educational resources (OER) are one of the few educational developments that emerged with technology. While it is true that there are a lot of OERs available on the internet, it is unsure how many learners are aware of their existence. This research aimed to identify how many students are aware of OERs, where they use OERs, and whether the educational institution encourages OERs. The researchers surveyed several students within the University of the Philippines Open University. The survey included learner demographics, statistics on learners' awareness and usage of OERs, learners' OER access locations, and the challenges they encounter when using OERs. The survey showed that the learners, regardless of age, are aware of OERs. They mostly access videos, research, and journals on web pages and Wikis. They find the OERs accessible and relevant, but reliability and visibility are challenging.

The article presents theoretical insight into thorough analyses of the outstanding experience and best practices in using digital educational resources by educators. We attempt to integrate these findings into training students who obtain a Master’s degree in Primary Education. Intensive use of information and communication technologies has proved efficient in preparing a new generation of innovative highly skilled would-be teachers for primary school in recent years. Although Ukrainian practice in this context is significant, however, huge accomplishments of the best world researchers still produce a noticeable impact on education advancement in many countries. The author draws attention to the relevant issue of training future educators in primary school to use digital open educational resources in their professional activities. The best practical experience of eminent Ukrainian and foreign scholars and teachers was analyzed. The suggested digital resources are examined on the field, purpose, and efficiency of their application with primary school children. The article highlights the educational potential of the popular tools for interactive online and offline communication and assessment of learning outcomes; vivid presentation of the educational content; creative thinking and soft skills development in the classroom as well as automated writing evaluation. Frequent challenges and hardships that educators have to deal with while using digital tools in the classroom are singled out and some solutions to the problem are suggested. The author points out the urgent necessity for young educators to gain new knowledge and skills for not only personal growth and self-development but also, for greater opportunities to be competitive in the contemporary labor market.

Open educational resources (OER) can be cost-effective alternatives to traditional textbooks for higher education faculty to decrease student spending on textbooks. To further advocate college instructors' use of OER, understanding their value belief towards integrating OER in teaching is necessary but currently absent. This study thus analyzed 513 college instructors' value beliefs about using OER in college teaching by applying a psychometric model known as diagnostic classification models (DCMs). The findings of this study validated the three constructs in value beliefs measured by an OER user survey: engaging students, customizing classroom materials and supporting personal professional development. The results showed that a considerable number of college instructors maintained a low level of value beliefs towards using OER. We further provided individualized classification for each college instructor in terms of the three types of value beliefs. In addition, this study investigated how pre-determined latent classes of value beliefs influenced college instructors' practice and perception of using OER. Particularly, college instructors who value OER to address their profession needs are more likely to adapt OER in their teaching rather than merely reusing existing copies. Practical implications of supporting higher education faculty's use of OER are discussed in the end.

The affordances of Open Educational Resources (OER) have resulted in various initiatives around the world, but most of them cease to exist once the initial project funding stops. Communities might be a means to create sustainable practices, yet, such communities can only function if their members perceive these communities as valuable. We applied the value creation framework of Wenger, Trayner, and De Laat to examine the value teachers ascribe to their engagement with an inter-institutional community on OER. In this community, 15 universities of applied sciences collaborated on sharing knowledge and resources across their institutional barriers. We collected data through user statistics, an online questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. Major value creation occurred from teachers' personal needs, with dominant immediate and potential values. Findings on applied and realized values denote that it became easier for teachers to connect with peers, and to initiate collaboration projects across institutes. The framework we used is helpful to inform actions to further promote value creation in communities on OER. Recommendations relating to communities' aspirations, its relations with the wider organization, and adoption of OER are formulated to inform sustainable practices of inter-institutional communities.

Open educational resources (OER) have significant potential for transforming teacher education in developing countries, yet this remains underexplored. This systematic literature review analyzes 98 articles to understand the impact and innovative prospects of OER’s ‘openness’ attributes on teacher education over the past two decades. While free access to OER is a crucial benefit and contributes to teacher education programmes, effective OER use relies on the proper application of other attributes. Thus, adaptation allows tailoring of materials to specific needs, promoting flexibility and contextualised learning, which are vital for effective teacher education. Free access addresses barriers like the digital divide and ensures content quality and sustainability, enabling equitable access to educational resources. Collaborative practices through OER foster knowledge co-construction and the development of essential 21st-century skills for teachers. The combination of formal and informal learning and remixing enriches teacher education by integrating structured curricula with personalised learning paths. This broader view of ‘openness’ beyond mere access provides insights for reshaping teacher education programmes to be more innovative and responsive to the evolving needs of educators in developing countries. The findings offer guidance for policies and practices to cultivate a new generation of empowered, adaptive teachers through OER integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern society stands in need of a next-generation teacher, in the light of which this study acquires particular relevance. The paper investigates the urgent issue of modern pedagogy -- the study of the scientific foundations of the methodology for preparing future computer sciences teachers for the development of electronic educational resources. In the study, the following general scientific methods were used: logical-historical method, pedagogical observation, analysis, synthesis, systematisation and generalisation, methods of pedagogical experiment, methods of mathematical statistics. The authors propose criteria and indicators of the readiness of future informatics teachers to develop electronic educational resources, as well as levels to identify the readiness of future informatics teachers to create electronic educational resources. In the paper, the authors share the results of an experiment to determine the suitability of their proposed methodology, describe the ways of forming the skills of future teachers to develop EER.

Comprehensively improving the quality of education in resource-poor areas is an urgent challenge to achieve balanced development of basic education in China. In the process of educational development in resource-lacking areas, information technology has: (1) changed the traditional teaching mode and teaching environment, (2) provided high-quality educational resources, (3) promoted the professional development of teachers, and (4) promoted the overall improvement of education quality. Southwestern Guizhou Prefecture in Guizhou Province, China, has become a typical case in using information technology to promote education quality improvement in areas with scarce educational resources. This article explores educational information technology in the region as an example to discuss how to grasp the regional characteristics and local needs in the layout of information technology, integrate information technology into teaching practice, and steadily improve the overall teaching quality of the region.

The behaviour to use innovation and technology for teaching, learning, and research is influenced by different levels of culture, ranging from the supranational, professional, and organizational to the individual level. The current study focused on the organizational, professional, and individual levels of cultural influence on preservice teachers' intentions towards the use of open educational resources (OERs). This study is based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and different levels of culture for innovation and technology usage. A survey was conducted on preservice teachers (n = 376) enrolled in the universities of Punjab (Pakistan). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied through smart-PLS. The results revealed that pre-service teachers were aware of the importance of OERs. It was found that preservice teachers' intentions played an important role towards their actual behaviour to use OERs. Personal level culture and perceived behavioural control influences the pre-service teacher's intentions to use open educational resources. The study has policy and practice implications for developing a social, cultural, and psychological environment to enhance pre-service teachers' intentions to use OERs. Future studies may be conducted on the effect of supranational and national culture on institutional policies designed to adopt OERs.

This scoping review explored the trends in open educational resources (OER) that support the interactions of learners with disabilities and the challenges of supporting these interactions in such environments. Emerging OER and open educational practices allow learners to interact with digital learning resources in self-regulated learning. Since OER assume learners' self-regulation, research has explored how to promote learner interactions to facilitate better engagement and motivation. Emerging research on OER-enabled pedagogy corroborate this trend. However, despite increasing interest in OER and open educational practices, few studies have demonstrated how OER support various types of interactions for learners with disabilities. Learners with disabilities are likely to experience challenges in interacting with OER due to their modality constraints. A comprehensive literature synthesis is essential to investigate the needs of learners with disabilities in their interactions in OER. In this study, we reviewed and synthesized existing research on how OER and open educational practices support the interactions of learners with disabilities across different OER platforms. Our findings suggest both research and design implications for future OER designs suited for learners with disabilities.

While open educational resources (OER) have gained popularity, nearly three quarters of faculty are not aware they are available for use. However, when used, they are well received and do not negatively impact quality of learning. OER can be used within a variety of platforms, including software that aims to be more interactive and engage students in active learning and assessment. One such platform is Top Hat, which was used by the authors of this study to develop a textbook for an introductory exercise science course. We assessed student's perceptions of Top Hat and barriers to use for reading their textbook and for class assessments over the course of two years. A total of 486 students were registered for this course. Although two thirds of students had previous experience with Top Hat and half of those used the textbook feature, students (n = 39, 38%) were apprehensive about reading their textbook online via Top Hat. However, these feelings resolved as students became comfortable with the platform's features. Nearly 80% of students have sometimes or never acquired their textbooks before the start of the semester, despite 96% who expressed the importance of having their materials accessible online and available on or before the first day of the course. This indicated that students understood the importance of having their materials for the start of the semester, however they perceived the barriers of purchasing books to be greater. Therefore, using OER and Top Hat removed student learning barriers and had potential to increase course participation and success.

Brokers are individuals who facilitate transfer of knowledge and resources, and coordinate efforts across boundaries of organizations. They are defined by their role rather than their organizational position. Brokers might be imperative for the formation and maintenance of inter-institutional relationship as they have the responsibility and the necessary structural position to connect otherwise separate groups. In the context of this study, brokers had the role to cultivate an inter-institutional community around open educational resources (OER) by connecting groups of teachers across higher education institutes. OER provide higher education institutes with an aid to face the challenges of improving teaching and learning. Yet most OER users encounter challenges that relate to finding resources that are relevant, up-to-date, and of good quality. Communities could minimize this issue, but many OER initiatives fizzle out as expanding their impact is an arduous task. This qualitative descriptive study draws upon cultural-historical activity theory to understand the complexities associated with the role of brokers in creating sustainable collaboration on OER across 15 higher education institutes in the Netherlands. Data was collected from project documents, process reports, reflections reports, and a retrospective focus group. The findings show that brokers engaged in a wide variety of actions but that a small-scale, personal, and content-oriented approach to encourage teachers to engage with the OER repository and the online community was perceived as the most valuable. Brokers also experienced conflicts due to the demanding context they were operating in, the ambiguity of their role, and the organizational constraints they were confronted with. Practical implications refer to supporting higher education institutes that wish to initiate sustainable collaboration across institutes.

The rising costs of college tuition, housing, and textbooks can be a barrier to many who seek a certification or degree in a health profession field. Affordable open educational resources (AOER) are an attractive alternative to expensive course materials. The Health Sciences Department at Weber State University created a comprehensive, two semester anatomy and physiology course using only openly available, copyright-free educational resources and an inexpensive, interactive laboratory program. The product is a collection of resources that includes a 1000+ page study guide, more than 230 small formative learning activities, recorded video lectures, and a comprehensive laboratory program that functions in both online and campus-based environments. This paper outlines the steps taken to transition from a traditional textbook-centered anatomy and physiology curriculum to one that offers students a wide range of learning resources for a fraction of the cost. The reduction of course materials costs will save health sciences students at Weber State University more than $375,000 every year.

This study evaluated a coordinated and collaborative pilot implementation of open educational resources (OER) across multiple disciplines including nursing, accounting, environmental science, religious studies, and finance. Participating faculty were qualitatively surveyed regarding their experience creating and implementing OER in a course. Students were surveyed on their perceptions of OER quality, cost savings, and ease of use. Faculty had an overall positive experience with OER, believing there was a significant benefit to students in cost savings while maintaining learning quality. Faculty felt the OER implementation process took a significant investment of time and recommended that faculty should be compensated for creating and implementing OER materials in future courses. Students overall showed positive responses to using OER in their course; the majority of students agreed with the OER cost savings, quality of OER resources, ease of using OER, and they trusted the use of OER materials. Older students (over 30 years) were more likely to state they would print out OER materials rather than read them online (as compared with students 30 and under). Senior-level students agreed significantly more than did freshman-level students that OER presented a cost savings. Faculty recommendations from this study included focusing on courses with very high textbook costs and courses that would impact the greatest number of students. Additionally, faculty recommended a follow-up revision process to keep OER materials current after implementation.

Open educational resources (OERs) are an alternative textbook to publisher materials used by colleges and universities. OER materials have a cost advantage for students; many are published as free or cost-reduced textbooks for students. The authors developed and piloted an OER textbook for Business Law I in the Management program of the School of Business, Technology and Law. Over 800 Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) students enroll in this course each academic year. The authors evaluated the cost savings for students compared to traditional publisher materials, and also examined student success rates in OER courses compared to traditional publisher courses. The authors' assessment is that OER materials can save students substantial costs to attend college, and though there is some difference in student success between OER and traditional publisher courses, this variation is likely explained by other independent variables such as the course teaching modality. The process for receiving funding, developing OER-based materials on a publicly available and no-cost website, and distributing the materials to students is also discussed.

The idea of Open Educational Resources (OER) is nowadays widespread in higher education. However, notwithstanding their supposed benefits, the actual adoption of OER in teaching remains low. Due to this absence, various studies have primarily focused on (the lack of) OER awareness among teachers and identified barriers to their use. This article argues that the current debate could benefit from insights from those who are already using OER in their teaching practices. Examining their perspectives can disclose measures that promote the adoption of OER. A mixed-method approach was applied that comprised an expert survey among 32 OER experienced higher education teachers in Germany, which results were then subject to a focus group discussion with 20 of them to validate and differentiate the results. Overall, the results reveal that teachers prefer measures comprising incentives and support rather than obligations. Exemplarily, a commitment to publish all materials as OER was rejected. Instead, a more fundamental transformation was requested from closed to open practices. Therefore, it can be stated that the teachers underlying path is guided by a desire for a shift towards openness in higher education. The measures favoured by the teachers can thus be understood as essential puzzle pieces that contribute to the bigger picture of openness.

As college costs have continued to rise, textbooks now average more than $1,200 per student per academic year as of 2020. Traditional textbooks are not only expensive, but also have fixed and frequently outdated content. In this study, we compared pre-service teacher-student outcomes and perceptions of a traditional textbook versus no-cost, online materials such as open educational resources (OER) in an undergraduate Foundations of Education course. Outcomes were measured by comparison of final course grades. Perceptions were determined through quantitative and qualitative survey questions added to existing end-of-course evaluations. Results revealed students found OER and no-cost online materials more useful to their success in the course and more engaging than a traditional textbook. Qualitative analysis further revealed that while students appreciated there was no cost for the online materials, they preferred them to a traditional textbook because of the customized content. Results suggest students find instructor-curated, no-cost online readings more useful and preferable to a traditional textbook without compromising student academic performance.

Information and Communication Technologies and Digital Educational Resources have undergone a rapid evolution and have been swiftly introduced into educational contexts. Teachers play a key role in integrating these technological resources into the classroom. The objective of the present study was to determine the value that teachers attribute to digital resources in their educational practice. Based on a qualitative methodology, the necessary information was obtained via an open-ended interview, in which a Spanish school's Early Childhood and Primary Education teachers participated. The results revealed that teachers value the integration of digital resources into the classroom, though no consensus was reached as to the suitable level of integration. Use satisfaction was mainly related to student motivation. Certain problems or limitations also came to light, however, linked to students' digital training. An important conclusion according to the perception of teachers is that the integration of digital resources in their educational practice was significant and improved the quality of the educational process.

The information and communication technology (ICT) comprehends with the adoption and the development of open educational resources (OER) in the educational spheres. The vast existing body of knowledge portrays several positive aspects of ICT, as it is an enabler in various domains. Hence, the combination of ICT and OER negative aspects have been, as yet, under-investigated. This study aimed to investigate both the social inclusion and the social exclusion of ICT with users appropriating of OER in open distance e-learning (ODeL) institutions. The qualitative approach was used to interpret the inclusion and exclusion factors concerned. The Model of Technology Appropriation was applied as a main theoretical underpinning of the study. The study findings show that ICT has both positive and negative impacts on the appropriation of OER. The various impacts are mostly recognisable in those developing countries where inequalities still exist, as some of the findings postulate that the innovation that is enabled through the utilisation of ICT tends to favour a select minority of rich people. For many students, ICT continues to perpetuate social exclusion. ICT innovation, including OER, has yet to fully support societal needs. Instead, it continues to promote the agendas of the global north. The study recommends the development of initiatives to close the current gaps which contribute to the social exclusion. For instance, the installation of fibre optic in most deprived townships and villages can assist in eliminating inequalities associated with ICT infrastructure.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are geared towards promoting accessibility to education and to help overcome certain constraints to education associated with traditional ways of learning. However, these OERs can only be successfully rolled out and utilised in environments already enjoying certain infrastructural empowerments, including teacher-preparedness, availability of equipment to allow use of OERs and learner exposure and knowhow. This poses a major hurdle in many public and private schools in Kenya, which are in far-flung areas without electricity, mobile-phone connectivity, Internet services and serviceable roads that allow movement to a cyber cafe where Internet services may be accessed at a fee. These difficulties are encountered by both teachers and their learners. This paper seeks to discuss the challenges faced in implementation of OERs, especially by the teachers who are expected to sensitise learners to the availability and utilisation of OERs, while they themselves are either unaware of them, poorly trained to handle them or are under-facilitated to carry out their mandate. The study was carried out in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya. The county was chosen because challenges related to OER have been reported there. The county has 104 secondary schools. A sample size of 45 schools representing 20% of the respondents was considered sufficient for the study. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on the teachers' ICT competencies, their awareness of and attitudes towards OER and the challenges they faced in the implementation of OER. The study found that utilisation of OER stands at about 3% as a result of ignorance regarding OER or a negative attitude towards them, poor ICT skills amongst the teachers and poor or inadequate resources within and around the schools.

Open Educational Resources (OER) have become widespread, but constantly lack adoption. The various studies that address this lack predominantly focus on structural causes (e.g. lack of time, legal uncertainty) while omitting individual factors. However, the latter especially can yield insights into the 'black box' of individual drivers for OER engagement. Employing a theoretical concept of attitudes, we investigate whether feelings and emotions or knowledge and beliefs mainly drive intention and behaviour regarding OER. Based on our theoretical concept, we designed a survey and distributed it in OER related occasions to scrutinise the participants' attitudes. Our findings disclose that intention and behaviour correlate with strong emotions and feelings for the underlying core ideas and values of OER. Beliefs are more robust in the abstract than in the concrete OER benefits. It is noteworthy that beliefs are widely absent from the level of knowledge about OER. The actual use of OER, however, correlates with the level of knowledge. Against this background, it is reasonable to argue that neither exclusively dismantling structural barriers nor solely promoting OER is a suitable strategy for increasing adoption. Not until educational institutions are guided and act on the basis of the key drivers of OER, their underlying ideas and value, can they spur engagement for OER among educational practitioners. Strengthening knowledge and beliefs about OER must therefore be the next logical step.