OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES - GUIDELINES

 

BACKGROUND

The Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala conducted an Assessment of Education Strategies and Programmes which was executed by ERU Consultants Private Ltd, New Delhi in the month of Sep – Oct 2017. The ICT expert of ERU assessment team made specific recommendations regarding the integration of ICT and usage of OERs in teaching and learning process where students will have the opportunity to use ICT in learning subjects. This document is a guideline which aims to provide suggestions for integrating OER into school education and encourage the schools and educators to produce, modify, share and use OER in the classroom learning to improve the quality of curriculum and pedagogy.

 

WHAT ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER)?

The concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) has numerous definitions. OER are educational resources which are freely accessible and openly available in text, media or any other digital form that can be used for teaching, learning and research purposes. The term was first conceived during UNESCO Forum on Open Courseware held in 2002.
Open Educational Resources are defined as ‘technology-enabled, open provision of educational resources for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes.’ They are typically made freely available over the Web or the Internet. Their principle use is by teachers and educational institutions to support course development, but they can also be used directly by students. Open Educational Resources include learning objects such as lecture material, references and readings, simulations, experiments and demonstrations, as well as syllabuses, curricula, and teachers’ guides.
(Wiley 2006)

 

GUIDELINES TO OER USAGE

The use of OER in schools is to provide an alternate or enhanced educational paradigm. A huge number of OER are available on the website free of cost. These sources can be located by teachers in specified topics to make learning enjoyable. Such sources of websites can be recommended to students for self-study and self-exploration in order to develop interest towards learning of the subject.