Do Open Educational Resources represent additional challenges or advantages to the current climate of change in the Australian higher education sector?

Abstract

This paper briefly reports on a number of Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives in Australia, including some government programs and funding, then explores several of the challenges and advantages of adopting OER at institutional and individual (educators and learners) levels. This paper also discusses some of the preliminary findings of a centrally funded research project that investigates the state of play of OER in Australia. This project surveyed the higher education sector and interviewed key stakeholders. According to participants, the use of OER has the potential to lead to new pedagogical practices, can improve the quality of educational learning materials, and promote social inclusion across the Australian higher educational sector. However, there are still challenges to be overcome such as current academic culture, lack of awareness and issues related to finding quality materials. The above could represent additional challenges to the current climate of change faced by the higher educational sector in Australia.