OER4SDI: Open Educational Resources for Spatial Data Infrastructures

With the growth of open educational resources (OERs), academic libraries have an opportunity to play a vital role in facilitating access, use, and development of OERs. This study explored the management practices of OER initiatives in Nigerian public university libraries. A sequential mixed method was adopted for this study using the sequential explanatory strategy. Quantitative method was used to gather data to inform the study population for the qualitative part of the study. The quantitative data was analysed descriptively, while the qualitative data was analysed thematically; both data were integrated into the discussion of findings to provide robustness and complementarity. The study revealed variability across institutions in the completeness of OER projects. It also found key drivers and challenges of integrating OERs in these institutions. While this study provided recommendations based on the findings, it also made suggestions for librarians seeking to expand their role in OER adoption through strategic leadership, faculty partnerships, and advocacy. The findings of this research contribute to the on-going discourse on OER adoption, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities facing academic libraries in sustaining OER initiatives.

ABSTRACTThis article reports on the possibilities afforded by the availability of high-quality Open Educational Resources (OERs) for traditional Humanities subjects such as English. The OERs provided a rich multimedia environment that enabled students to explore a range of selected poems. This paper reports on the design, development and usability testing of OERs for the teaching of poetry at Junior Certificate level in Irish post-primary schools. The potential impact of such OERs is also addressed.

One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce quality and relevant materials to be reused and adapted to different contexts and learning situations. In this paper we present a flexible and systematic method for OERs, called AM-OER, that allows the development of OERs to evolve incrementally, and be modified and improved as needed. Practices of Learning Design are incorporated into the OERs development, making the design more understandable and shareable, and facilitating the reuse and adaptation. We applied AM-OER through a case study involving the development of a course in the software engineering domain. The results obtained suggest the applicability and usefulness of the AM-OER in the development of OERs.

Traditionally, the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has focused on the production, distribution, and retrieval of open content. There is, however, more to OER than the resources alone. For OER to function properly, underlying communities are needed to support learners and teachers in the use, development, and dissemination of OER. A central question is how learners and teachers can be supported in their use of OER, while at the same time building up and sustaining the needed community. These support and community formation aspects are especially important in a non-formal context. Peer-support is claimed to be ideal for providing encouragement as well as building up of a community. In this chapter, an explanation is given of peer support in a non-formal learning context, called Ad Hoc Transient Groups. These help to foster collaboration in OER networks. Based on this concept, the chapter presents the design of a stakeholder-validated peer support service. Some related work pointing out how peer support for non-formal learning with OER can be best organized is then given.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are no-cost teaching tools increasingly used to support student learning at all grade levels. OERs are not equitably distributed across disciplines and few OERs exist for middle school age groups about vertebrate animal anatomy. To help fill the resource gap and explore impacts of cross-generational science teaching on students at predominately Hispanic institutions, we tasked university students with creating animal anatomy presentations for middle school audiences. Presentations were disseminated live over a virtual platform to middle school students and pre-recorded versions were posted on YouTube as OERs. University and middle school students completed voluntary pre- and post-presentation Likert-scale surveys to quantify learning experiences. By developing and sharing OERs, university students increased their animal anatomy knowledge, understanding of OERs’ purpose, beliefs in effectiveness of online educational materials, confidence in creating scientific presentations for non-peer audiences, and beliefs in their abilities to impact the next generation of learners. After watching the presentations and interacting with the university students, middle school students increased their beliefs that they learn effectively from other students, animal anatomy knowledge, and interests in studying science. The development and dissemination of animal anatomy OERs for middle school audiences fills a gap in available resources and helps inspire the next generation of science scholars.

The article explores how pedagogical strategies based on the sociocultural context enrich the subject of citizenship education, promoting inclusive and meaningful education. Through a literature review, challenges and opportunities were identified, highlighting aspects such as curricular adaptation, student participation, teacher training and educational resources. The results show that integrating sociocultural elements into the curriculum promotes educational equity by connecting content with students' realities. This promotes meaningful learning and critical citizenship competencies, such as reflective thinking and collaboration. However, challenges include insufficient teacher training in intercultural approaches and lack of contextualized educational materials. Opportunities identified include the development of open educational resources and teacher training in innovative practices. It is concluded that these strategies transform teaching and promote equitable education that responds to contemporary needs, strengthening the formation of active and engaged citizens.

The purpose of this instrumental qualitative case study was to address the challenges that community college professors face when curating or creating high-quality and low- or no-cost open educational resources (OERs), the accessibility of the resources, and the impact OER has on student success and social justice in education. The goal of this instrumental qualitative case study was to examine faculty's perceptions of OERs and explore whether and how the professors thought use of OERs helps to improve student engagement and student success in the classroom. In seeking to explore community college professors' perceptions of OER and their impact on student engagement and student success, the researcher used an instrumental qualitative case study. The target population for this study was full- and part-time faculty members who have created, curated, or have taught at least one semester (in the face-to-face, blended, or distance learning formats) using OER course content. This study utilized purposeful sampling and an additional participant was identified, invited and accepted the invitation as a result of the snowballing approach to selecting participants. The researcher conducted 12 semistructured interviews using open-ended questions to collect the data for this study. Analysis of the interviews led to the development of 5 themes and 10 subthemes associated with the data. The researcher's interpretations led to three results. Based on the data and research findings, the researcher concluded that social justice in education emerged as being implied and woven through all participants' responses. A comprehensive discussion on social justice in education is a subject for further research. There were three recommendations for practice covering these topic areas: (a) continue to foster the development and curation of OER, working collaboratively with partners internal and external to the institution; and (b) develop and promote OEP that allow students to acquire skills and knowledge, learning from their own and each other's experiences; (c) create flexible and sustainable course design for the post-pandemic environment. There were two recommendations for future research as follows: (a) broaden the approach to work toward social justice in education; and (b) recognize students as producers and creators of content and provide them with interactive learning environments in which to learn and become agents of change. Keywords: open educational resources (OER), social justice in education community college, student engagement, student success, faculty perceptions, benefits to students, inclusive learning environment, student creators of content, OER quality

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching and learning activities had to be conducted fully online. To sustain quality education, teachers could use open educational resources (OERs) available in the public domain to make online mathematics teaching more effective and interactive. However, we currently know little about the use of OERs in primary school settings. Therefore, this study seeks to understand their school policies and guidelines on and teachers’ experience of using OERs during the pandemic. Our overarching goal is to provide recommendations on the future development and use of OERs in the context of primary school mathematics education. We employed a qualitative approach and interviewed 13 mathematics teachers from different primary schools. Our findings suggest that teachers tended to rely on OERs more during the pandemic than before. They used OERs to introduce mathematics and to facilitate class interactions in online lessons. However, not all schools had policies and guidelines on the use of OERs in place. Some teachers also encountered challenges when using OERs, such as finding that the resources were unsuitable for school contexts and lower primary school students. Based on the findings, we discuss some possible strategies for the improvement, such as ensuring the suitability of OERs, through developer–teacher collaborations.

Library and information services have dramatically changed over the last couple of years. Now access to information is not limited to what is physically available in a particular library. Information is accessible free of charge from a wide variety of globally distributed commercial repositories such as open access (OA) journals, OA archives and open courseware and others. Now libraries can provide worldwide access to a never-ending supply of distributed information and knowledge in electronic form that is constantly available and updated. This article provides information about resources like e-journals, e-books, directories/gateways, theses and other OA resources in pure sciences, social sciences and management. The Maris Stella Virtual Library provides links not only for the above resources but also links for Open Course Ware and Massive Open Online Courses

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are changing the learning and teaching landscape in many different fields. In the area of higher education, OERs are swiftly becoming important elements in support of Open Educational Practices (OEPs) and the Open Education Movement. Research suggests that OERs and OEPs might be powerful vehicles for professional development, for teacher collaboration, and to enhance knowledge of technology in language pedagogy (Borthwick & Gallagher-Brett, 2014). Nonetheless, in spite of the increasing popularity of open education, little is known with regard to the production and use of OERs in languages other than English (Zancanaro & Amiel, 2017). This paper examines concepts, advantages and challenges related to Open Education and briefly reviews studies which discussed the production of OERs in languages other than English in higher education. The few studies addressing the development and use of OERs in languages other than English show that more research is needed to increase visibility of open education for less prominent languages and to support the Open Education Movement in higher education. DOI:10.2458/azu_itet_v6i1_berti

This chapter discusses the role of educational policies to guide the development and delivery of education. It offers examples from viewpoints within the institution, education interest organisations beyond the individual institution, and the broader community. Three policy areas are explored—for digital infrastructure, for the development of open Educational Resources, and for international student enrolment. The chapter then discusses the requirements for policies to have an evidence base. The chapter concludes with the importance of copyright and licences in relation to open access publishing.

The article examines the processes of transformation of education in the context of globalization and digitalization, in particular, trends in the development of lifelong learning and the introduction of digital educational technologies. It examines modern strategies for the formation of competencies in different countries of the world, including the USA, Canada, the countries of the European Union and Japan, and also analyzes Ukrainian realities in the context of integration into the global educational space. It is shown that digitalization, personalization of educational trajectories, development of open educational resources and introduction of innovative technologies are becoming key factors determining the effectiveness of continuing education. The importance of creating a national digital educational ecosystem integrated with European certification systems, which allows ensuring mutual recognition of qualifications, expanding academic mobility and adapting curricula to the needs of the global labor market, is substantiated. A theoretical and analytical model of the development of lifelong learning is presented, reflecting the complex interaction of global trends and national characteristics, allowing to predict future transformations of educational systems and optimize strategies for their development. The article emphasizes the practical significance of the results for higher education institutions, education management bodies and educational platforms, as they form an analytical basis for planning educational programs that meet the modern requirements of the knowledge economy and global society. Thus, the study demonstrates that the transformation of education in a global context contributes to the formation of competencies necessary for effective participation in modern society and creates conditions for the development of lifelong, flexible and inclusive learning. Keywords: globalization, lifelong learning, digitalization, transformation of education, competency-based approach

Learning science is inseparable from laboratory-based procedural exposition and analytical inquiries. Instruction on lab instrumentations is often limited by availability and cost, also requiring multiple textbooks with static text and images. Access to open educational resources (OER) textbooks offers a remedy. Here, design-based research provides details of the design, construction, and application of two interactive OER textbooks and a Creative Commons–license YouTube channel, integrated with guided inquiry learning and self-paced assessment. Evaluation and reflection results indicate increase of undergraduate student confidence in science courses and research. Implications on active learning strategy integration in OER development through blended learning are discussed.

The premise of this study is that teachers’ conceptions of the quality of Open Educational Resources (OER) and their attitudes and motivations towards using OER will influence whether and how they use and or contribute open resources. Understanding teachers’ attitudes, motivations and barriers to OER use and comparing data across institutions may help to identify the issues that influence OER uptake in India. This chapter attempts to answer the following four research questions: How are teachers’ attitudes towards OER situated in the context of teaching and learning? What are teachers’ motivations for using OER and sharing their work as OER? How do teachers perceive the quality of OER? What barriers to using OER do teachers perceive? This study employed a mixed methods approach, using a survey to gather the quantitative data which form the focus of this chapter, as well as workshop engagements and interviews to collect qualitative data. The research was carried out at four universities representing the varying contexts of higher education teachers in India – one state, open university; one dual-mode university; one semi-urban university; and one multi-campus, private university – and amongst the WikiEducator India community. At each university, a three-day OER workshop took place where 30 teachers learned about OER and completed a survey. In addition to the 120 workshop participants engaged at the four universities, the survey was sent to the 107 members of the WikiEducator India community who participated in the research process. Of the total of 227 teachers who were asked to take the survey, 149 survey responses were received, of which 117 (comprised of 43% females and 57% males) were useable. A total of 28 educators from the universities were also interviewed. Despite the relatively low levels of awareness of OER demonstrated by Indian teachers prior to the research process, they were very positive about creating and sharing OER, while being slightly less enthusiastic about using externally developed materials. Many of the positive attitudes stemmed from: the sense of satisfaction obtained when others use and adapt their materials; useful feedback received from peers; increased reputational profile experienced as a result of sharing; collaborative opportunities introduced in the sharing process; and the belief that their own sharing would encourage other teachers to do the same. The teachers were mildly cautious about OER quality issues, but said that they would use OER if they were appropriate for their needs. They acknowledged a number of barriers to using and sharing OER, including a lack of understanding of intellectual property, copyright and open licensing; a lack of time; and the lack of funding, institutional incentives and support for OER activities. The authors recommend that advocacy to raise awareness of OER in Indian universities should be a top priority, with a particular focus on teachers and senior administrators; teachers should be released from certain duties and provided with the time required to engage in OER activity; incentives in the form of awards and/or recognition in promotion should be provided for teachers to undertake OER development; quality assurance mechanisms for OER produced should be introduced; and continuous professional development opportunities should be provided to teachers through regular workshops and training sessions on advanced information and communication technologies and OER skills. The dataset arising from this study can be accessed at: https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/578

The Ministry of Higher Education has made the creation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in universities as a key objective in part of the digital transformation of Cuban universities. This has led to a need to prepare teachers and managers to face open education. Open educational resources (OER) promote the opening and democratization of knowledge and expand the opportunities for access to information. It is necessary for higher education centers to develop and manage resources to support the teaching–learning process and to prepare their teachers in the production of these resources. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the Virtual Learning and Distance Education Group of the Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas in the work with the preparation of teachers to face open education. Specifically, the paper will focus on the actions taken to prepare teachers for the creation of OER. The results shown were obtained using the systematization of experiences as an essential method of qualitative research. A comprehensive system of strategic actions has been developed and implemented across various domains, with the objective of preparing teachers to engage with open education, particularly as creators of OER. Work stages have been delineated to facilitate the transition to open education and the development of OER by teachers.