The use of open educational resources (OER) is gaining momentum in higher education institutions. This study sought to establish academics' perceptions and knowledge of OER for teaching and learning in an open distance e-learning (ODeL) university. The study also sought to establish how perceptions are formed. The inductive approach followed the lens of commodification to answer the research questions. The commodification phase allowed for a better understanding of the academics' prior knowledge, informers, academics behaviour about OER, and how they perceived OER to be useful for teaching and learning. The study employed a qualitative method, with semi-structured interviews to collect data. The study found that academics with prior experience and knowledge of OER are more successful in the use of these resources for teaching, learning, and research. OER is also perceived as a useful tool to promote African knowledge, showcase the contributions of African academics, improve academic research capabilities, improve student's success rate, particularly for financially vulnerable students. Based on the acquired perceptions, the study able to propose a new guideline to formulate user perceptions. However, this can only be achieved through a solid OER policy with the support of government and tertiary institution top management. The findings may inform higher education institutions when they consider the development of OER strategies and policies, especially in response to the Covid-19 emergency online learning transition.
翻译:开放教育资源(OER)的使用在高等教育机构中正在形成势头;这项研究旨在建立学术界对OER的认知和知识,以便在开放式远程电子学习大学(ODEL)中进行教学和学习;研究还旨在确定如何形成认识; 引入方法遵循商品化的透镜,以解答研究问题; 商品化阶段使人们更好地了解学术界先前的知识、信息员、关于OER的学术行为,以及他们如何认为OER对教学和学习有用; 研究采用了一种定性方法,通过半结构的访谈收集数据; 研究发现,拥有OER以前的经验和知识的学术界在利用这些资源进行教学、学习和研究方面比较成功; OER还被视为一种有用的工具,用于促进非洲知识,展示非洲学术界的贡献,提高学术研究能力,提高学生的成功率,特别是财务上脆弱的学生。 根据获得的认知,研究能够提出新的准则,以形成用户的认识。 然而,只有在政府和高等教育(尤其是CER)最高管理机构在考虑高等教育的升级战略时,才能通过坚实的OER政策来达到这一目的。