Advancing Sustainability of Open Educational Resources

Introduction The primary purpose of this paper is to 1) introduce readers to Open Educational Resources (OERs) and 2) discuss several vital issues as regards the OER sustainability. This paper is organized in manner consistent with its purpose. The paper's introductory remark describes OERs. Firstly, different perspectives of OERs are discussed focusing on their goals and objectives. Secondly, definitions and examples of various OER initiatives are presented. The discussion then shifts to the OER sustainability, a fundamental element responsible for the success of OERs. Next, the discussion focuses on several vital issues as regard sustainability of OERs. These issues are instructional design and presentation; cost of production and maintenance; and OER communities of practice as relate to scalability. Conclusions and recommendations for future research round out the paper. What are Open Educational Resources? Open Educational Resources (OERs) are becoming increasingly popular in educational institutions. OERs include all educational resources - normally digital in nature such as learning objects, open courseware, etc. that can be freely accessed (with no cost to users) via the Internet with minimal or no restrictions. UNESCO (2002, Paragraph 3) defined OERs as "... technology-enabled, open provision of educational resources for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes. They are typically made freely available over the Web or the Internet. Their principal use is by teachers and educational institutions to support course development, but they can also be used directly by students. Open Educational Resources include learning objects such as lecture material, references and readings, simulations, experiments and demonstrations, as well as syllabi, curricula and teachers' guides." Johnstone (2005, par. 5) characterizes OERs as * Learning resources--courseware, content modules, learning objects, learner-support and assessment tools, online learning communities * Resources to support teachers--tools for teachers and support materials to enable them to create, adapt, and use OER, as well as training materials for teachers and other teaching tools * Resources to assure the quality of education and educational practices Specifically, Hylen (2005, par. 3) outlined the OER initiatives into the following categories: 1) open courseware and content; 2) open software tools (e.g. learning management systems); 3) open material for e-learning capacity building of faculty staff; 4) repositories of learning objects; and 5) free educational courses Johnstone (2005) stated that OERs should not be perceived as degree-granting system and that OER is not a substitute for institutionally-supported open and distance learning materials. OERs are considered a means of providing access to resources that have some educational value, particularly for those with limited or no access to educational resources. In the next section the four Open Educational Resources initiatives are discussed. Open Educational Resources Initiatives Open Courseware Open courseware (OCW), pioneered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is the open educational resources that provide free access to courses for students, educators, and self-learners. These courses are not designed for degree-granting or certificate-granting systems. The goal of MIT Open courseware is to create "... a vast network of universities around the world offering open access to high-quality educational materials in a variety of different disciplines, in a variety of different languages, creating a global Web of knowledge that will improve education around the world." (See Other Opencourseware Projects at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/otherocws.htm ) Wiley (2006) asserts that over 2000 open courses are currently available online and that presently, sixteen different countries are involved in OCW initiatives. …