Why Open Educational Resources Repositories fail - Review of Quality Assurance Approaches

Abstract

Regardless of the amount of open educational resources (OER) available, many learning object repositories LORs fail to attract active users and sustainable funding solutions. Previous studies indicate that quality of OER plays a significant role in the success of the repositories; however, there is a lack of systematic deeper understanding of this connection. In this qualitative study we interviewed 35 managers/developers of 27 national, thematic and federated LORs in regards of the LORs’ quality approaches and success. The key findings of this study show that comprehensive quality approach leads to success of the repository in most cases, the key instruments for quality assurance being expert and peer reviews. Contribution of this research is the review of LOR quality approaches. This study helps LOR developers to design sustainable quality assurance approaches.