IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v12y2023i1p49-d1037605.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Funding Open Educational Resources in Higher Education: A South African Public Policy Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Nduduzo C. Ndebele

    (School of Management, IT and Governance, Department of Public Governance, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa)

  • Mfundo Mandla Masuku

    (School of Built Environment and Development Studies, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa)

  • Victor H. Mlambo

    (School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg P.O. Box 524, South Africa)

Abstract

The direct crediting of book allowances to student accounts was, among other reasons, underpinned by the belief that students would be able to substitute prescribed study material with online content. The article attempts to understand if the local open educational resources (OER) funding policy environment was prepared for this significant transformation. The paper applied a critical theory paradigm and a documentary research strategy to identify policy-level documents on OER funding in the South African higher education sector. Content analysis was then applied to review what they said about OER funding. These outcomes were then measured against the National Policy Development Framework 2020, which also dominated the study’s conceptual framework. The study’s significant findings were that the OER funding policy did not meet the policymaking principles of the framework, and this exposed Higher Education to a poorly funded OER environment. The study recommended hastening the finalization of OER policy and the flexible application of current policy terms to include OER as a fundable higher education cause.

Suggested Citation

  • Nduduzo C. Ndebele & Mfundo Mandla Masuku & Victor H. Mlambo, 2023. "Funding Open Educational Resources in Higher Education: A South African Public Policy Perspective," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:12:y:2023:i:1:p:49-:d:1037605
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/1/49/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/1/49/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bob Carbaugh, 2020. "The Decline of College Textbook Publishing: Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 65(2), pages 284-299, October.
    2. Ahmed Tlili & Ronghuai Huang & Ting-Wen Chang & Fabio Nascimbeni & Daniel Burgos, 2019. "Open Educational Resources and Practices in China: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-14, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yali Zhang & Huihui Zhu & Bo Mu & Xiaojian Zhang & Xuerong Cui, 2020. "Inter-Campus Sharable Potential of Hardware Educational Resources in A University Town: Connotation, Determination Method and A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Filippos Evangelou, 2023. "The Use of Open Educational Resources as Teaching Tools in Primary Education: Activities by Postgraduate Students of the Hellenic Open University," International Journal of Learning and Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Maria Soledad Ramirez-Montoya, 2020. "Challenges for Open Education with Educational Innovation: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Xiangling Zhang & Ahmed Tlili & Ronghuai Huang & Tingwen Chang & Daniel Burgos & Junfeng Yang & Jiacai Zhang, 2020. "A Case Study of Applying Open Educational Practices in Higher Education during COVID-19: Impacts on Learning Motivation and Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-12, November.
    5. Pablo Alejandro Quezada-Sarmiento & Jon A. Elorriaga & Ana Arruarte & Hironori Washizaki, 2020. "Open BOK on Software Engineering Educational Context: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Baoqing Song & Bingyang He & Zehua Wang & Ruichong Lin & Jinrui Yang & Runxian Zhou & Yunji Cai, 2022. "Research on Open Practice Teaching of Off-Campus Art Appreciation Based on ICT," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:12:y:2023:i:1:p:49-:d:1037605. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.