Affiliation:
1. Ege University, Turkey
Abstract
Open education ecosystem is dynamic in its nature and has an ever-growing body of educational resources with Open Educational Resources (OERs). OERs offer great opportunities for the learners freely access to digital content which accommodate their learning needs and can help to fill the inequality gap in education worldwide. This chapter starts with the brief history of OERs, the philosophy of open education, the openness movement which entails the concept of OERs; it continues with current and future role of OERs for the learners and teachers who experience learning and teaching in online learning environments. The motives for facilitating OERs and design criteria for ensuring quality are discussed. Moreover, current debate on the sustainability, discoverability and credibility issues for OERs and the future of online learning are handled considering recent studies on the factors related to development and adoption of OERs by the teachers and academics. Main objective of this chapter is to interpret the potential and challenges of OERs in shaping the future of online learning.