A Study of Use and Supporting Factors to Effective Use of Open Educational Resources Towards Active Learning in the Context of Higher Education in Thailand

Abstract

Open educational resources (OERs) is a concept potentially enabling knowledge to be freely transferred under copyright regulations. With accessibility of the resources in digital formats, OERs can be used as a tool towards cognitive partnership to expand thinking process as users participate in learning activities which involve searching, retrieving, brainstorming, creating new knowledge and resources, and uploading the resources back to the resource repository to redistribute. The purposes of this study were to investigate the current situations of use of OERs for teaching and learning in higher education in Thailand, and to explore elements and factors that promote effective use of OERs in active teaching. This study was a mixed methods research consisting of two parts. Part 1 dealt with quantitative data from the questionnaire regarding instructional use of OERs from 198 instructors and 416 master students affiliated with institutes of higher education in Thailand. Part 2 was qualitative research study engaging 8 experts in order to identify supporting factors and the roles of those involved to the success of OER activities and the process of its use for active learning. The findings showed current use of OERs in which the instructors assigned students to search for information from OERs. Such teaching activities, however, did not have a clear process to put into practice. In terms of OERs, adaptation or reflection of new knowledge from the use of OERs, education on and promotion of ethical use of OERs, joint use, joint contribution to the development, and sharing of the resources are considered a constructive force to the continuous and sustainable cycle of open education. In addition, 4 elements of the OPEN sources and the roles of SMART students and instructors are regarded as a factor encouraging effective use of OERs in order to further develop the learning process model of active learning in a systematic manner.