The Role of Open Access and Open Educational Resources: A Distance Learning Perspective

"The paper explores the role of Open Access (licensing and publishing) and Open Educational Resources within Distance Education, focusing on the context of the University of London International Programmes. We report on a case study where data were gathered from librarians (including information specialists) and the University of London International Programmes directors relating to existing practice around Open Access and where the major constraints in using Open Educational Resources and the main resource implications, when adopting Open Educational Resources, were also investigated. Our aim was to (a) raise awareness and understanding of what is possible in higher education (b) identify next steps and actions that could be taken to improve institutional use of Open Access materials, including Open Educational Resources, (c) examine the implications of such actions for open and distance learning and generally the HE sector."