TY - JOUR
T1 - Open educational resources (OER) usage and barriers
T2 - a study from Zhejiang University, China
AU - Hu, Ermei
AU - Li, Yan
AU - Li, Jessica
AU - Huang, Wen Hao
N1 - Funding Information:
The term “OER” was first introduced to China and promoted among scholars and educators in 2002. In China, OER can be categorized into three groups. (1) Educational resources that are not protected by the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China. These resources include cultural, educational, and literary work available in the public domain that are digitized by libraries and institutions and made available free of charge via the Internet and other means. (2) Educational resources protected by Copyright Laws but under provisions that allow for free use and/or re-use. These resources include any educational materials published under open copyright licenses. (3) Resources that are not explicitly licensed under certain intellectual property licenses and do not reside in the public domain, yet are guaranteed for free public use by government policies (Wang & Zhao ). One example of government policies supporting OER initiatives is the Chinese Quality Course (CQC), which was funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education. In announcing the project, the Ministry of Education declared that all funded CQC courses should be posted online without password limitations and open to the general public (Wang & Zhao ).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (13CGL113) and the Zhejiang Social Science Foundation Project (13ZJQN035YB).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Open educational resources (OER) as an innovation to share educational resources has been influential in past decade and expected to bring changes to higher education worldwide. There is, however, very limited literature on OER usage, especially from the perspective of college students in developing countries, who are often projected as the recipients and beneficiaries of OER. This study was designed to examine Chinese college students’ OER usage and perceived barriers impacting the diffusion of OER. Data was collected during the 2012–2013 academic year at Zhejiang University. A two-part survey instrument was administered to a sample of students (n = 1239). The results show that a significant number of university students have experienced with OER, but there are challenges involved with student, content, interface, and environment related factors that impacted rapid diffusion of OER. Gender was not associated with students’ perceptions about barriers to OER usage, but year in study was. The study highlighted the role of university and faculty members in diffusing the concept and practice of OER and recommended OER-related initiatives for faculty members and college students to foster the adoption of OER.
AB - Open educational resources (OER) as an innovation to share educational resources has been influential in past decade and expected to bring changes to higher education worldwide. There is, however, very limited literature on OER usage, especially from the perspective of college students in developing countries, who are often projected as the recipients and beneficiaries of OER. This study was designed to examine Chinese college students’ OER usage and perceived barriers impacting the diffusion of OER. Data was collected during the 2012–2013 academic year at Zhejiang University. A two-part survey instrument was administered to a sample of students (n = 1239). The results show that a significant number of university students have experienced with OER, but there are challenges involved with student, content, interface, and environment related factors that impacted rapid diffusion of OER. Gender was not associated with students’ perceptions about barriers to OER usage, but year in study was. The study highlighted the role of university and faculty members in diffusing the concept and practice of OER and recommended OER-related initiatives for faculty members and college students to foster the adoption of OER.
KW - Barriers
KW - College students
KW - Distance education
KW - Open educational resources (OER)
KW - Post-secondary education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947493806&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84947493806&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11423-015-9398-1
DO - 10.1007/s11423-015-9398-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84947493806
SN - 1042-1629
VL - 63
SP - 957
EP - 974
JO - AV communication review
JF - AV communication review
IS - 6
ER -