Changes

‘’Build it and will they come?’’  This captures the current context in the OER space with more and more materials being made available from educators and institutions alike, but limited uptake from users.  One important reason behind this is the low level of awareness about OER and its possibilities. Other parameters are:

‘’Build it and will they come?’’  This captures the current context in the OER space with more and more materials being made available from educators and institutions alike, but limited uptake from users.  One important reason behind this is the low level of awareness about OER and its possibilities. Other parameters are:

#'''''legal''''' , with limited awareness of open licensing possibilities amongst people

#'''''legal''''' , with limited awareness of open licensing possibilities amongst people

#'''''cultural''''', OER availability is more in English than in local languages, thus limiting access and use

#'''''cultural''''', OER availability is more in English than in local languages, thus limiting access and use

#'''''social''''', OER creation is largely ‘expert-driven’ with limited participation of teachers and other resource creators and hence it is not disseminated widely  

#'''''social''''', OER creation is largely ‘expert-driven’ with limited participation of teachers and other resource creators and hence it is not disseminated widely  

#'''''pedagogical''''', teaching restricted to ‘text books’ in many education systems and teachers are yet to look beyond the text books for sourcing materials for their teaching and  

#'''''pedagogical''''', teaching restricted to ‘text books’ in many education systems and teachers are yet to look beyond the text books for sourcing materials for their teaching and  

What is not often talked about however is the role the technology ecosystem plays in OER adoption.  With OER being essentially digital, the means and processes of accessing OER for reuse, revision and sharing must be freely available.  The digital allows creation possibilities in multiple ways – textual, graphics and audio-visual – and the availability of software applications for creation becomes critical.  OER began as a digitization of textual resources and thus text was dominant.  In a  proprietary software dominant desktop environment, where the use of Free and Open Source (FOSS) tools is limited, it becomes prohibitively expensive to license proprietary applications for creating resources in audio, video and other media formats, thus limiting their creation.  With the dominance of text (which was limiting its use), and the lack of appropriate software applications, users did not have the means and tools for accessing and repurposing OER, thus limiting its adoption.

What is not often talked about however is the role the technology ecosystem plays in OER adoption.  With OER being essentially digital, the means and processes of accessing OER for reuse, revision and sharing must be freely available.  The digital allows creation possibilities in multiple ways – textual, graphics and audio-visual – and the availability of software applications for creation becomes critical.  OER began as a digitization of textual resources and thus text was dominant.  In a  proprietary software dominant desktop environment, where the use of Free and Open Source (FOSS) tools is limited, it becomes prohibitively expensive to license proprietary applications for creating resources in audio, video and other media formats, thus limiting their creation.  With the dominance of text (which was limiting its use), and the lack of appropriate software applications, users did not have the means and tools for accessing and repurposing OER, thus limiting its adoption.

However, as technologies have evolved, today, we have a wide variety of mature and high quality Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) applications which can allow resource creators and editors to create, re-mix, revise and re-distribute OER in multiple formats. These are available on the desktop environment, some of them are web-based and some available on mobile phone platforms.  The power of OER comes from its ‘openness’, that it can be freely re-used, revised and re-distributed. Similarly, software that can be freely  re-used, revised and re-distributed can create a rich learning environment, by providing the tool-set for OER creation and re-purposing.  

However, as technologies have evolved, today, we have a wide variety of mature and high quality Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) applications which can allow resource creators and editors to create, re-mix, revise and re-distribute OER in multiple formats. These are available on the desktop environment, some of them are web-based and some available on mobile phone platforms.  The power of OER comes from its ‘openness’, that it can be freely re-used, revised and re-distributed. Similarly, software that can be freely  re-used, revised and re-distributed can create a rich learning environment, by providing the tool-set for OER creation and re-purposing.

===Free and open technology environment===

===Free and open technology environment===