Open Educational Resources (OER) and OpenCourseWare (OCW) target barriers of education and learning by sharing knowledge for free to benefit self-learners, educators, and students. This study aims to investigate the use of OER both as a supplementary resource for a traditional course and as a resource for self-learners. First, the attitudes and perceptions of undergraduate students toward using a General Physics Laboratory OER and about how those resources contributed to the outcomes of the course were determined. Second, public usage of resources was assessed by analyzing OER access statistics. Resources were designed to encourage students to review experiments before laboratory sessions. Results indicated that students who used the OER experienced benefits to their learning processes. In line with their aim, the resources facilitated preparedness for the course. More than half of the respondents deemed supplementary resources unnecessary. On the other hand, self-motivated learners found, reviewed, and benefited from the resources.

Keywords

barriers to education · OCW · OER