{"id":17363,"date":"2017-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachonlinecn.wpengine.com\/tools-trends\/articles\/building-on-open-educational-resources-whats-next\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T12:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:35:07","slug":"building-open-educational-resources-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/tools-trends\/articles\/building-open-educational-resources-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Building on Open Educational Resources \u2013 What\u2019s Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we explore open educational resources (OER) during the year of open<\/a>, we ask \u201cwhat is next for OER and who will lead the next stage of development?\u201d Many are already starting to ask questions about the quality of OER<\/a> resources, the sustainability of OER<\/a> materials and processes and the development of communities associated with OER, such as the community which sustains the World Map of OER<\/a>. Others are embracing OER and related open products and services and challenging their colleges and universities to embrace \u201copen source\u201d as a principle in their work in online learning and student support. Now is the time to reflect on where we are and where we are going.<\/p>\n

The Story So Far<\/h2>\n

The OER movement has been with us for a considerable time \u2013 almost twenty years. There are now substantial collections of such resources available, such as those catalogued by the Commonwealth of Learning<\/a>, OER Commons<\/a>, Merlot II<\/a>, iTunes University, and OERu<\/a>. Whether you are looking for materials, whole courses, simulations or animations, there is a growing possibility you will find it.<\/p>\n

The idea behind these resources is developers openly shared the resources so others may freely, with acknowledgement, use them. The expectation is that a full course or OER resource will be adapted, given the different context in which the user intends to use it, and then \u201cshared back\u201d with the global community. OERs are shared, re-used and re-shared in an endless cycle of use (you can read more about OERs here<\/a>). Building this collaborative, sharing and co-operative culture for resources is motivated by a desire to improve learning, quality and performance and to support the work of faculty.<\/p>\n

No one is quite sure just how many OERs are available for use. One estimate is there are over 1 billion items ranging from textbooks through to simulations to lesson plans available for use. \u00a0There are searchable catalogues of available resources (for example, here<\/a> and here<\/a>). The challenge is not so much to produce more OER (though more will always be needed), but to use and leverage what already exists.<\/p>\n

Also emerging are open practices \u2013 protocols and rubrics for policies, procedures and institutional practices. These are growing quickly with respect to both academic services (IT supports, instructional design and assessment) as well as social and service supports (career advice, student advising, recruitment and retention). They also include approaches to flexible degrees and diplomas \u2013 \u201chow to\u201d guides for competency-based credentials.<\/p>\n

This move to embrace open practices began some time ago \u2013 around 2011 (see Beyond OER \u2013 Shifting Focus to Open Education Practices,<\/a> which outlines the ideas behind these developments). It reflects deep concerns about the commercial exploitation and growing costs of higher education and the need to develop much more open approaches to research, publications, course materials, textbooks and other resources. Despite these developments \u2013 a growing number of textbooks, course materials, simulations and practices \u2013 adoption levels for OER approaches in North America are low. Babson\u2019s 2-15-16 survey<\/a> of the use of OER in US higher education found:<\/p>\n