Open Education Resources Offer Many Benefits: How to Overcome Barriers

Open Education Resources Offer Many Benefits: How to Overcome Barriers

Globally around 1.6 billion learners are facing various kinds of learning disruptions due to COVID-19. School closures have set the stage for the adoption of online learning solutions as a means to reduce the spread of the virus. Many governments in sub-Saharan Africa, as in other parts of the world, have adopted distance learning methods to keep education going during the pandemic. Distance learning method uses various techniques to share educational material. These include YouTube, Zoom, Google Classroom, Teams, Internet educational websites, television, radio, tablets, computers and smartphones. Distance education also depends heavily on the resources of open education. These are educational and research resources in any format in a public place that can be accessed freely. They are made available to promote access to and use of quality educational material without geographical barriers. Users can also share such content without any restrictions. We wanted to learn more about the impact of these resources on research productivity in higher education. Our paper reviewed the existing literature and found that open learning resources promote research productivity in higher education institutions. For example, these resources gave students free access to a wide range of educational and research materials. But we found systemic failures to be a major challenge to the universal adoption of open education resources, especially in developing countries. The main challenges are the economic, technical, legal, social and infrastructural requirements that are needed to make available the resources of open education. Benefits and limitations Open education resource platforms improve access to education. They allow users to access, store, redevelop and redistribute resources to a wider network for greater coverage. As a result, these resources and related platforms are globalizing education in a way never seen before. There are many examples and we have listed a few in our paper. One of them is the African Virtual University. It has ten physical centers in five African countries – Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia and Senegal. The other is the Commonwealth of Learning. It is a forum established in tertiary institutions in Malawi, Tanzania and Nigeria. Open resources allow academics to offer constructive criticism, add to a body of knowledge, or build on a theory or concept. Access to these resources can generate ideas, materials and technologies with a wide user base and application. Resources help to connect scholars working on similar fields or projects in different geographic locations. They provide a platform for collaboration in research and related publications. The productivity of an institution can be measured in terms of its research output. The number of research publications produced by academics and students determines an institution's ability to inform and create new knowledge. Open learning resources have boosted research productivity by removing the cost constraints in doing so. In addition to research, resources have benefits for learning. Materials used in world class universities are now available to universities in developing countries. Open resources have the added potential benefit of enabling people to take an active role in shaping their own learning. Our review identified the benefits of open educational resources as: promoting the use of innovative methods of learning, regulating educational costs, regularly refining the quality of educational materials, wide dissemination of good quality educational materials and learning opportunities. to give birth. While open education resources have these advantages, they also have some disadvantages. These are diverse and vary between and within countries. Sustainability issues: Creators do not receive payment for content shared online, so they may have little incentive to continue doing this work. Quality Concerns: Users may be able to post content that has not been checked for accuracy. Lack of human interaction and feedback between students and teachers. Intellectual Property and Copyright Concerns: All materials shared online must be scrutinized to ensure that they do not violate copyright laws. There are also challenges of infrastructure, technical prowess and cost. Some teachers may be reluctant to share intellectual property or use resources developed by others. Some may lack awareness of copyright issues and restrictive licenses restricting changes to content. The fact that most of the resources are in English is another limitation. Why open education resources matter Our study showed that open education resources had a positive impact on the demand for learning and the knowledge and skills needed for jobs. These educational resources have changed the landscape of research and learning. Investment in infrastructure, for optimal adoption of open education resources

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