Authors:
Henri Pirkkalainen
1
;
Jussi P. P. Jokinen
1
;
Jan M. Pawlowski
2
and
Thomas Richter
3
Affiliations:
1
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
;
2
Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences, Finland
;
3
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Keyword(s):
Barriers, Culture, TEL, Cultural Distance, Social Software, OER.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Communities of Practice
;
Computer-Supported Education
;
Distance and e-Learning in a Global Context
;
e-Learning
;
e-Learning Platforms
;
Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
;
Simulation and Modeling
;
Simulation Tools and Platforms
;
Social Context and Learning Environments
;
Society, e-Business and e-Government
;
Web 2.0 and Social Computing for Learning and Knowledge Sharing
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
Open educational resources (OERs) provide opportunities as enablers of societal development, but they also create new challenges. From the perspective of content providers and educational institutions, particularly, cultural and context-related challenges emerge. Even though barriers regarding large-scale adoption of OERs are widely discussed, empirical evidence for determining challenges in relation to particular contexts is still rare. Such context-specific barriers generally can jeopardize the acceptance of OERs and, in particular, social OER environments. We conducted a large-scale (N = 855) cross-European investigation in the school context to determine how teachers and learners perceive cultural distance as a barrier against the use of social OER environments. The findings indicate how nationality and age of the respondents are strong predictors of cultural distance barrier. The study concludes with identification of context-sensitive interventions for overcoming the related ba
rriers. These consequences are vital for OER initiatives and educational institutions for aligning their efforts on OER.
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