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Open educational resources (OER) usage trends among university students of Pakistan

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Abstract

Benefits of using Open Educational Resources (OERs) across the world have perpetuated great interest to baseline and report how OERs are used in developing countries. This is an initial study to baseline trends of OER use by university students in Pakistan and to present their perceived benefits of OER use to attain academic challenge, collaborative learning, and to enrich their educational experience. Data for this study has been collected from university students from five different academic disciplines and different degree programs. 91% of the respondents reported that they had used OERs. However, the perceived benefits of OER use are significantly different for students studying at different education levels and across disciplines. Social science students and female students have a better perception of the benefits of OER than other academic disciplines and their male counterparts. Post-hoc analysis revealed that MPhil/Ph.D. students had the highest rank for choosing mental activity and collaborative learning as a benefit of OERs. Fundamental barrier highlighted by respondents regarding the effective use of OER is lack of internet followed by lack of time and skill to use OERs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are deeply thankful to the editor and reviewers for their valuable suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. We also appreciate the assistance of Mr. Muhammad Asim Jajja in revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Language Engineering (CLE), Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, Pakistan

    Sana Shams

  2. Quality Enhancement Cell, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq

  3. College of Statistical & Actuarial Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq

  4. Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Yasira Waqar

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  1. Sana Shams
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  2. Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq
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  3. Yasira Waqar
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Correspondence to Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq.

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Shams, S., Haq, M.A.u. & Waqar, Y. Open educational resources (OER) usage trends among university students of Pakistan. Educ Inf Technol 25, 5637–5654 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10195-3

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