The list of barriers and enablers identified as influencing the use of
open educational resources (OER) is extensive. However, factors and influences
relating to reuse have often been noted within projects operating within a short
time span, or subject to other specific conditions which limit generalizability.
Evidence of reuse in practice has often emerged as isolated examples or
anecdotes independent of context. While technical barriers and enablers to
reuse have been well addressed in literature on reuse, from reusable learning
objects (RLO) to OER, less attention has been given to the purpose of reuse and
the motivation of those who choose to share or use reusable learning resources.
Which factors have impact or influence on reuse, and how they relate to each
other, is largely unexplored.
This paper draws on a longitudinal cross case comparison of five facilitation
initiatives within UK HE which represented differing approaches to reuse activity
(i.e. sharing and use) (Pegler, 2012). Coding and comparison in that research
identified 222 factors related to reuse and suggested three broad and distinctive
categories representing the type of factor associated with reuse activity (or lack)
within project and other contexts. These were: Technical (the technical or
technological systems or processes supporting reuse, including licensing and
rights issues); Quality (the way in which sharers or users may establish or
interpret the quality of one resource or reuse service relative to another); and
Motivation (the purpose or motive underlying engagement with the activity and
the conditions that this may suggest). The relatively independent effect of these
factors, and the way they appear to influence reuse, recalls the classic two
factor theory of motivation by Herzberg (1968).