INTRODUCTION
An open educational resource is a word coined by UNESCO in 2002 that implies free access to learning, teaching, and researching available at either public domain or launched with an open license. The idea of five Rs defines this concept judiciously: Reuse, Retain, Redistribute, Remix, and Revise. The available educational materials can be legally used, re-shared, and copied. With technological advancement, many platforms are budding up to provide educational resources online but are protected, which limits its accessibility. Open educational resources are the ticket to make the resources available to all. In a developing country like India, an open educational resources system is a ray of hope of equitable access and quality education. The education paradigm and the quality of education will change with the easy and widespread availability of educational materials.
INDIA’S INITIATIVES TOWARDS OUTGROWTH OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
OER was introduced in India in 2005 by the National Knowledge Commission. The government launched many initiatives to meet the goals of equal access and quality education:
NATIONAL PROGRAMME ON TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING – an initiative started by seven Indian Institute of Technologies and Indian Institute of Science in 2003 aim at providing online classes, subject courses, and certified courses, initially for some core subjects through YouTube channel. This program offers courses in various subjects by teachers of prestigious colleges. Currently, there are 1 crore plus subscribers and 2000 plus courses.
NATIONAL REPOSITORY FOR OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES – it is developed by CIET, NCERT, and launched in the year 2013, which hosts educational resources in the number of subjects in the form of videos, images, audios, documents, and NCERT books. Its main aim is to reach the unreached.
E-GYANKOSH – is a National Digital Repository launched by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to share the digital learning resources developed by the institutions. Anyone can use its resources but have to give credit to IGNOU. IGNOU offers online programs and courses for distant learning. It includes many schools and colleges which share their materials and then they are made available to all.[1]
SAKSHAT –is developed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to provide educational services to the stakeholders of education. It is a one-stop portal for various educational resources like audio and video lectures, MOOC courses, virtual classrooms, and e-contents.[2]
There are many National Educational Repositories like Open Educational Resources for schools, Kerala-Open Educational Resources, National Institute of Open Schooling. Recently the government launched many Internet Computing Technology initiatives like Swam Prabha, Diksha, E-Pathshala, and National Digital Library. The government is focusing on increasing stakeholders of education for an open license of educational resources to increase the availability of free and cost-effective educational resources.
SIGNIFICANCE OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
It promises to permeate through demographic, geographical, economic, and educational boundaries by offering the system of personalized learning:
Distant learning is one of the assets of it. Any person with a smartphone and internet connection can access online courses from anywhere in the world at any time. Personalized learning reduces the burden of the scheduled period and offers students to learn whenever they feel like. Distant learning breaks the barriers for children who do not have access to colleges and teachers in person.
The sources offered by it are cost-effective. For example, the NCERT book materials are easy to purchase by many teachers and students despite the economic boundaries. The cost of certified courses offered by the National Repositories of Open Education is Rs. 1000 which are affordable. There are also free online classes in various subjects.
Another main feature that these open educational resources offer is mixing, adaption, and asset adaption. This enables educators and teachers to use, share, and download the data and adapt the data as per their usage. There are many fields on which these sources are available like engineering, law, science, environment, and arts and humanities.
OERs allows teachers to share their teaching-learning resources with the public. Teachers, while teaching, make several learning materials and PowerPoint presentations, these materials will not go in vain and they can use it to make the same, accessible to the public through the creative common-license which grants six types of licenses according to the convenience of the people.
LEGAL ASPECTS OF OPEN EDUCATION
The word open in open educational resources stands for resources that are available to all. Free resources refer to the destruction of the original work. For an educational resource to be open, it has to be first licensed. Six types of creative commons licenses take account of different copyright laws in different countries. These licenses include ‘Baseline rights’ like the right to distribute, copy, display, and digital performance. Creative commons license asserts the authors' copyright law[3]. Legally, OERs face many issues, especially the infringement of copyright laws. Some of the legal issues are:
The owner of the resources has to issue the license of copyright. Non-issuance of the license will lead to infringement by the person using the resources. Most of the time, people infringe on the rights of the owners unknowingly.
Third-party faces immense problems while making their resources open. Apart from the owners, no one can transfer their open license to them. Care has to be taken by third-party to seek permission from the right owner.
It is important for the person using the resources of the owner to give them credit. If they fail to acknowledge the owner, then it is considered as plagiarism.
Apart from licensed OER, the word public domain attached to OERs means they are not reserved and can be used by anyone without permission and giving credit to the owner.
CONCLUSION
In a country like India, open educational resources are an asset as it removes all the barriers that limit access to education for many individuals. The complete implementation of open educational resources in India is possible if the government takes proper steps to curb the main issue that is the digital divide. Currently, the ICT infrastructure of India has some loopholes like many people do not have access to smartphones and the internet connection to make the use of open educational resources. The government is launching many initiatives and platforms for open educational resources. Despite many platforms, the government should make one platform combining all for unified and easy access. The number of educators sharing their educational resources is increasing and thus, the government needs to multiply its stakeholders and provide them with an open license. This will ensure wide access to these resources. In the upcoming years' open educational resources are predicted to grow as the technology would take over India and the availability of technology to everyone would make it possible for them to access free and cost-effective open educational resources.
[1]Ajith Kumar C, Unit-7 Open Educational Resources, eGyankosh (2018), http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/46306/1/Unit-7.pdf, accessed 6 August 2020 [2] Ibid [3]Ministry of Human Resource Development, Open Educational Resources for K-12 Education in India Central Square Foundation Concept Paper, Central Square Foundation (Aug 14, 2013), https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/20130808_CSFConceptPaper_OER_MHRDConference_v0.7.pdf, accessed 6 August 2020
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