Sustaining Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives in Nigerian Universities

ABSTRACT

Open educational resources (OERs) have increased in popularity and are becoming an important method of providing access to, and enhancing, the teaching and learning experience for both lecturers and students. Despite their popularity, approaches that may work best for sustaining OER initiatives in Nigerian universities are still evolving in Library and Information Science (LIS) literature. Considering the current budget climate for higher education in Nigeria, a framework that is tended towards the sustainability of OER needs to be developed. This article examines opportunities and threats surrounding OER, as well as highlighting major players in the OER landscape. A mixed method approach consisting of a survey and focus groups was used to gather both qualitative and quantitative information from academics and librarians at selected universities in Nigeria, who participated in the Nigerian Universities Commission’s (NUC) OER ranking exercise. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis respectively. While this paper provides recommendations based on findings on one hand, it also proffers suggestions for other libraries interested in growing OER initiatives focusing on development, implementation and assessment for universities operating with limited resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Open Educational Resources
• OER
• Institutional Repositories
• National Universities Commission
• Lecturers
• Universities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yetunde A. Zaid

Yetunde A. Zaid is a Reader Librarian and Head of the Readers’ Services Department at the University Library, University of Lagos. She has over 15 years of professional practice of managing information services to both students and faculty at the University of Lagos. Her research interests include information service structures, strategic aspects of information literacy development, and library information and knowledge management. Her works have appeared in leading local and international journals of Library and Information Studies. email: [email protected]/[email protected]

Adefunke O. Alabi

Adefunke O. Alabiis the Acquisitions Librarian at the University Library, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Her research interests cover ICT application in libraries, e-learning, information management, cataloguing, library services to children, environmental sustainability and indigenous knowledge. She has authored a number of articles in reputable local and international journals and made oral presentations of her research work at local and international conferences. email: [email protected]/[email protected]