Mainstreaming Open Educational Practice: Recommendations for Policy
Open Educational Resources, and open education more generally, is considered to have huge potential to increase participation and educational opportunities at large and to promote widening participation and lifelong learning. At the same time the past decade has shown that openness in itself is not enough to unfold these potentials. A number of elements need to be taken into account in order... more
Defining Openness: Updating the Concept of "Open" for a Connected World
The field of Social Research Methods is shared not only by the social sciences, but by many other disciplines. There is therefore enormous scope for the creation and re-use of open educational resources (OERs) in this area. However, our work with social scientists on a number of recent projects suggests that barriers exist to OER creation and use in social research methods teaching. Although... more
OER for African Teacher Education
Presentation by Tessa Welch at the African Council for Distance Education meeting in February 2012. more
OER in Africa - The What and the How
This presentation by Tessa Welch to the Unisa Teaching and Learning Festival provides an overview of OER, copyright matters and on how to find OER. more
A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)
This Guide comprises three sections. The first – a summary of the key issues – is presented in the form of a set of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’. Its purpose is to provide readers with a quick and user-friendly introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) and some of the key issues to think about when exploring how to use OER most effectively. The second section is a more comprehensive... more
Open Educational Resources and Higher Education
This paper examines the concept of OER in more detail, offering a simple, clear definition, explaining the economic and educational potential behind that definition, introducing examples of OER practices around the world, exploring legal considerations, and highlighting some of the challenges to releasing the transformative potential of OER. more
Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds: A collection of case studies about MIT OpenCourseWare
A collection of case studies about MIT OpenCourseWare more
Creating, Doing, and Sustaining OER: Lessons from Six Open Educational Resource Projects
A relatively recent global movement, the development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER) has generated a dynamic field of widespread interest and study regarding methods for creating and sustaining OER. To help foster a thriving OER movement with potential for knowledge-sharing across program, organizational and national boundaries, the Institute for Knowledge Management in... more
