The research project investigates the strategies and practices of post-secondary instructors from higher education institutions in Mongolia to understand the role of open educational resources (OER) in their work. Specifically, the study explores activities in three academic workplace settings representing different organizational structures within the higher education domain where instructional development, teaching and learning take place.
The work activities of individuals and teams, including the development, design, implementation and ongoing maintenance and re-design of curriculum materials, form a complex system of relationships that must be contextualized and critically examined across the multiple organizational structures if they are to be adequately investigated. Interviews, survey and artifact collection in each type of academic setting is carried out as a part of the research.
Following an initial set of interviews with participants recruited from within a purposeful stratified sample of institutions, a follow-up survey targets faculty and instructors. This survey serves to provide additional quantitative data as a complement to the interview-based qualitative data and will link understandings of the OER work and practices with those of a wider population.
The research program uses a sequential explanatory approach that includes semi-structured interviews with faculty, instructors and instructional developers about curriculum preparation, design, resource selection and implementation practices. The research also includes parameters for exploring both the affordance and constraint aspects of instructors’ and developers’ experiences in implementing OER in higher education settings.
This study also uses activity theory (AT) as its unit of analysis and site-based experiences (case studies) to uncover the unique activity systems for the investigation of situated practices in this study through qualitative interviews. The interviews conducted with particular instructors and teams provide in-depth analysis of particular contexts, and the strategic decisions and practices associated with OER use and reuse in those higher education settings.
This paper will share some initial findings that can enable a decision-support model for higher education institutions or faculty that contemplate the use of open educational resources as a teaching and learning strategy in Mongolia.