| Open Educational Resources (OER) launched since the end of 20th century, is booming around the world, with the practices throughout all continents, across all the levels, featuring the participation and promotion of UNESCO and OECD along with "Cape Town Open Education Declaration." The concept of "open and sharing" of OER inspires international institutions, academic institutions such as Open Universities, as well as academic researchers. OER has been trying to achieve the ideal of the people:quality learning resources for all. The development of OER provides opportunities for educators and learners applying new teaching and learning methods and concepts into practices.This research is based on the theory of distance education, learning theory and learning science, sociology of knowledge, communication theory and globalization theory. It reviews the history of OER, illustrates the impact from distance education, open education, learning theory, development modes of technology-enhanced course on the development of OER, and the application and implementation of OER is influenced by the development of distance education, higher education and the open source movement. It analyses the goals, benefits, designs and implementation of OER projects from Britian and U.S., focus on the design and implementation of its OER courses and its impact on teaching and learning model. Based on the analysis of the prospect applications of social software, the research is trying to analyze the future development of OER.Open Educational Resources (OER) is defined as on-line resources freely available via the Internet (free of charge to users), with the license allowing users to freely use, adapt and share, including:Learning Objects, OCW (Open Courseware), open source software, and Open License etc.. OER features economic viability, social progress and technological openness, highlighting the characteristics of open knowledge as public goods, in as Creative Commons basis. Information technology and technology-enhanced learning facilitate the development of OER, change the modes of learning, promote knowledge sharing, reshape the learning environment, enable the interactive, collaborative learning and learning communities. The development of OER will not be limited to the open content, more changes will take place in the education process.,and supported by the theory and practice of Distance education, the profound transformation of higher education.With the development of ICT and lifelong Learning, the landscape of higher education is changing:from supporting and facilitating knowledge acquiring to necessary skills for an information society and lifelong learning. The practice of OER will change the future of higher operation mode.Taking Carnegie Mellon University Open Learning Project (OLI), UKOER and Open University OpenLearn project as examples, the research discusses the mode of course design featuring the user participation, theory-based continuous improvement through feedback, how to take advantage of these online courses to effectively promote learning and blended learning. It discusses the OER project at the national level which is using a variety of methods and models in course development and the application of innovative practice in teaching and learning in the Universities, participation in the British professional development programs and researches.If the creation and implementation of OER is still based on teacher-centered knowledge transfer model, teachers and learners will be unable to truly grasp knowledge and skills they need in the future knowledge economy and society. Creative collaboration of learners and teachers should be promoted in the use of digital content, tools and services in the learning process. The great potential of Web2.0 in the development of OER will be discovered in the future research. Starting from provide equal educational opportunities, OER will continuously promote the reform of educational practice as well as the openness of education system. |
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