Open Educational Resources (OER)

In language learning the input plays a major role for successful learning (Krashen’s input hypothesis).  For this reason language teachers should have access to huge amount of materials in target language. Open Educational Resources are digital materials that can be used for teaching, learning and research and which is available for free use. OER include different kinds of learning content: courses, course materials, collections, and journals. I’ve discussed in my previous posts the influence of new technologies and availability of internet in language learning and teaching. It can be argued that the most visible impact of the Internet on education are the Open Educational Resources (OER), which has provided free access to a wide range of courses and other educational materials to anyone who wants to use them. (http://www.ocwconsortium.org/en/courses, http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/, http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm)

We are entering a world in which the main focus is on the interaction with others and the participation in an on-line environment. This fact is highly effective for language learners, as according to prominent language acquisition theorist Stephen Krashen "Acquisition requires meaningful interactions in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding."  In this century there is a shift of attention from access to information toward access to other people. For this we all have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis. Because new kinds of online resources, such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual communities came to replace traditional ways of interaction which allow people with common interests to meet, share ideas, and collaborate in innovative ways. This is a great opportunity for language learners to interact in the target language and use the language for meaningful communication.

Perhaps the best known example of online open source is Wikipedia, on-line encyclopedia which is available for every user and which can be edited by every volunteer who has new information to share. Having in mind this fact, these open sources enable users a new kind of critical reading because it is up to the readers to consider what information is reliable or important in this huge open resources and which is not.  

References

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html