An Introduction to Open Educational Resources and Their Implementation in Higher Education Worldwide
Atenas, Javiera · Ebner, Martin · Ehlers, Ulf-Daniel · Nascimbeni, Fabio · Schön, Sandra

Published3 July 2024
JournalWeizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society
Volume 4, Issue 4, Pages 1-15
CountryUnited Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Europe

ABSTRACT
The digitization of (higher) education has exposed copyright infringement issues, as the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials has become more visible. This article explores the importance of open educational resources (OER) in higher education, focusing on their development, how they are understood, and the opportunities they offer. OER are defined as learning materials released under open licenses, allowing no-cost access, reuse, adaptation, and redistribution. The article discusses the OER movement, its milestones, and its integration into educational practice. It also presents arguments for OER: they enable free access to education, improve teaching practice, diminish legal issues, and foster open science. In addition, it highlights criticisms, including resistance from traditional publishers and concerns about marketing influence. The article concludes by examining current OER implementation in higher education and its promise of innovation. While OER are increasingly adopted, proprietary resources still dominate. The article emphasizes the need for educators to use open licenses meaningfully and innovatively and presents research on OER acceptance and usage. The monitoring of OER development in higher education is essential, but approaches may vary across countries.

Keywords open educational resources · open license · copyright · legal issues · implementation

LanguageEnglish
ISSN2748-5625
RefereedYes
RightsCC BY
DOI10.34669/WI.WJDS/4.4.3
Export optionsBibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar



AVAILABLE FILES
WJDS_4_4_3_Atenas+et+al.pdf · 558.2KB



Viewed by 319 distinct readers




CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS

The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.

Click a star to be the first to rate this document


POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS

Openness in Education as a Praxis: From Individual Testimonials to Collective Voices
Bozkurt, Aras; Gjelsvik, Torunn; Adam, Taskeen; Asino, Tutaleni I.; et al.
Why is Openness in Education important, and why is it critically needed at this moment? As manifested in our guiding question, the significance of Openness in Education and its immediate necessity form the heart of this ...
Match: atenas, javiera; ebner, martin; nascimbeni, fabio

Guidelines for leveraging university didactics centers to support OER uptake in German-speaking Europe
Ebner, Martin; Schön, Sandra; Kumar, Swapna; Petrides, Lisa; Jimes, Cynthis
Although less well established than in other parts of the world, higher education institutions in German-speaking countries have seen a marked increase in the number of open educational resource (OER) initiatives and in ...
Match: ebner, martin; schã¶n, sandra; austria; germany; europe

Approaches to Monitor and Evaluate OER Policies in Higher Education - Tracing Developments in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
Neumann, Jan; Schön, Sandra; Bedenlier, Svenja; Ebner, Martin; et al.
The 2019 UNESCO recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) encourages member states to monitor policies and mechanisms in OER across the world. In higher education, there are many initiatives and policies around ...
Match: ebner, martin; schã¶n, sandra; austria; germany; europe

Fostering openness in education: Considerations for sustainable policy-making
Atenas, Javiera; Havemann, Leo; Nascimbeni, Fabio; Villar-Onrubia, Daniel; Orlic, Davor
This paper reviews a framework to support the co-creation of policies to sustainably foster Open Education. The framework has been derived from a comprehensive review of public and Open Education policy documents and ...
Match: atenas, javiera; nascimbeni, fabio; united kingdom; europe

How OER enhances MOOCs- A perspective from German-speaking Europe
Ebner, Martin; Lorenz, Anja; Lackner, Elke; Kopp, Michael; et al.
In this chapter, we discuss why open educational resources (OER) and MOOCs are a necessary and powerful combination, especially in German-speaking Europe. We begin with an introduction to open online courses and an ...
Match: ebner, martin; schã¶n, sandra; germany; europe

From Open Educational Resources to open educational practices
Ehlers, Ulf-Daniel; Ehlers, Ulf-Daniel; Koskinen, Tapio
Although open educational resources (OER) are high on the agenda of social and inclusion policies and supported by many stakeholders, their use in higher education (HE) and adult education (AE) has not yet reached the ...
Match: ehlers, ulf-daniel

Changing the trajectory: Quality for opening up education
Creelman, Alastair; Shamarina-Heidenreich, Tatiana; Stracke, Christian M.; Kear, Karen; et al.
The jointly-organised EFQUEL Innovation Forum (EIF) 2014 and International Learning Innovations and Quality (LINQ) Conference took place in Crete on 7-9 May. The event addressed innovations and quality in lifelong ...
Match: ehlers, ulf-daniel; nascimbeni, fabio

Quality assurance in the open: An evaluation of OER repositories
Atenas, Javiera; Havemann, Leo
The World OER Declaration 2012 recommends that States join efforts to facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing OER. The OER movement has thus far spurred the creation of numerous repository initiatives worldwide with ...
Match: atenas, javiera; united kingdom; europe

Open Data as Open Educational Resources: Case studies of emerging practice
Bacsich, Paul; Stojanovska, Elena; Rubio, María José; Moneo, Antonio; et al.
Open Data as Open Educational Resources: Case studies of emerging practice is the outcome of a collective effort that has its origins in the 5th Open Knowledge Open Education Working Group call, in which the idea of ...
Match: atenas, javiera; united kingdom

Driving student motivation in MOOCs through a conceptual activity-motivation framework
Khalil, Mohammad; Ebner, Martin
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) require students’ commitment and engagement to earn the completion, certified or passing status. This study presents a conceptual Learning Analytics Activity-Motivation framework ...
Match: ebner, martin; austria; europe