ADAPTIVE APPROACHES: OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) AND THEIR IMPACT ON HIGHER EDUCATIONAL PRACTITIONERS

The research is undertaken as a narrative inquiry, gathering the phenomenological interpretations of key stakeholders, and deciphering the sociological impacts that have shaped our understanding and engagement with the deployment of OERs from the perspective of academic practice. A number of studies have explored the opportunities, issues and barriers to the use of OERs (Online Learning Task Force, 2011, McGill et al, 2013, Mtebe and Raisamo, 2014). In addition Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) and their potential as disruptive technologies (Yuan and Powell, 2013) within the education sector, enable one to explore additional dilemmas such as sustainability, quality and commercial viability. Each identifies an on-going paradox for academic faculty surrounded by these socially oriented web technologies: individuals (and institutions) must engage, but may not have the time, finance, or a rewards system to merit such commitment. The increasing demands for education globally enable the proposed study to offer a valuable insight on current and future practice.