The Emergence of Thai OER to Support Open Education

Abstract

This paper aims to present the practical work of the development of Open Educational Resources (OER) in a developing country, Thailand, to support open education and lifelong learning in the society. Thai OER is an on-going project under the Online Learning Resources for Distance Learning project in the Celebration of the Auspicious Occasion of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s 60th Birthday Anniversary on the 2nd April 2015. It is developed by the collaborative efforts of multiple stakeholders in the country to share educational materials via the Internet under an open licensing agreement. This is to reduce the cost, access and usage barriers of students, teachers and learners, especially disadvantaged and disabled children and young people who lack opportunities to access education and knowledge. The materials, provided in Thai OER, cover a range of topics in different fields, especially Thai local and indigenous knowledge, and in different formats for all users. This paper also presents the benefits of Thai OER for different levels and major challenges to develop and adopt OER in a developing country, Thailand.