The Nature of Open Educational Resources for Schools

Open educational resources for schools are best distinguished from traditional educational resources for schools because of their electronic nature. Open educational resources for schools refer to digital materials that are re-used for academic activities such as teaching, and research. They are available for free by way of open licenses. This will allow the use of materials that are otherwise not permitted under copyright rules alone. It must be noted that open educational resources for schools by itself will not be able to award degrees to students. Neither can they provide academic or administrative support. Nonetheless, open educational resource materials are slowly being integrated into open and distance learning environments. Open education is the kind of education that eliminates many conditions for academic entry such as university or high school admission requirements.

Open educational resources for schools include many different kinds of digital assets. It can be grouped into the following:

1. Learning Content

• courses
• course materials
• content modules
• learning objects
• collections
• journals

2. Tools

• software supporting the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content
• searching and organising content
• content and learning management system
• content development tools
• online learning groups or communities

3. Implementation Resources

• intellectual property licenses governing open publishing of materials
• design principles
• localization of content

4. Materials on Best Practices

• stories
• publication
• techniques
• methods
• processes
• incentives
• distribution

The goals of open educational resources for schools range from specific aims such as reshaping the captive market of textbook publishers to the extremely ambitious goal of creating an environment where each and everyone can access and contribute to the sum of all knowledge that humankind has gathered and discovered. But perhaps a more realistic use of open educational resources for schools is to make a contribution to the development of the economies of less developed countries.