Research Trends in Open Educational Resources (OER): A Review of Empirical Studies Published in Selected Journals from 2003 to 2013

Abstract

Technological advancement and the integration of new technologies in teaching and learning have brought unprecedented changes to the delivery of education. Alongside this expansion in information and communication technologies, there has been a move towards sharing knowledge resulting in the birth of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement.The movement was pioneered by global institutions such as MIT, UNESCO, OECD and Hewlett Foundation to promote collaboration and production of quality educational resources. Further Creative Commons has added the intellectual property dimension which is now more amenable to academics as they can specify how they like their IP to be shared and used. OER has developed to a point where some institutions now provide courses, modules and tests on line. It has also spawned instructional design software and authoring tools that make teaching and learning manageable, thus spearheading the need to understand the status of research in this area. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to review research that has been conducted on Open Educational Resources (OER) in last decade. The understanding of the status of such emerging research would be helpful for educators and researchers in understanding the current OER progress and choosing appropriate topics for investigation. The research questions that guided this review were: what were the trends in OER studies published in selected journals from 2003 to 2013? What are the suggested trends for future OERs?, and what are the challenges of OER research? // Paper ID: 159