Investigating University Students' Attitudes Toward Open Educational Resources (OER) and their Effect on Learning Outcomes

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the attitudes of university students towards Open Educational Resources (OER) and its impact on learning outcomes in the higher education landscape in Pakistan. OER became an important pedagogical innovation to provide freely available teaching and learning resources to students in various subjects. The use and access of OER were still low among the students of the universities of Pakistan, even though they are recognized worldwide, because of digital literacy, institutional support and awareness. The researchers employed quantitative research design and the data were collected through a structured questionnaire given to students of different universities (public and private). The sample included students from undergraduate and graduate level that had previous experience with digital learning platforms. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyze the collected data in order to find out the relationship between students' attitudes and their academic performance. The results showed that the students had positive attitudes towards OER, especially in terms of accessibility, cost, and flexibility of use. Furthermore, there was a strong positive correlation between the use of OERs and learning outcomes. The study found that the use of OER found to be a valuable educational tool that improved student engagement and academic outcomes. The researchers suggested that the adoption of OER should be encouraged by the creation of targeted awareness campaigns and infrastructural support by the policy makers and academic institutions.