#346 Presentation

Tuesday 17 April 10:55 - 11:25 Bowett Room

Exploring Three OER Initiatives in Turkey: challenges and strategies

Engin Kursun, Ataturk University, Turkey
Kursat Cagiltay, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Conference Theme: Impact

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate three Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives to reveal challenges encountered and strategies applied during the implementation of OER initiatives. To do this, multiple-case study design was carried out throughout the study. In this study, there were three bounded OER initiatives or system managed by OER practitioners in the context of three different universities in Turkey. Data was collected through interviews with OER practitioners, document analysis and observation of OER projects portals in related universities. One of the most significant challenges that three initiatives investigated in this study confronted is to persuade faculty members to share their course materials. In this point, legal issues appear to be the most concerned issues by faculty members. Besides convincing faculty members, there are also a number of challenges that these initiatives confronted. To address those challenges, results showed that integrating this movement into working system of institutions, establishing a dedicated unit, and personal relationships are seem to be best working strategies during the implementation of these kinds of initiatives.