Current state of open educational resources in the Arab region: an investigation in 22 countries

Abstract

Abstract While several studies were conducted to investigate the current state of Open Educational Resources (OER) in several regions (e.g., Europe, America, Middle East and MENA), to the best of our knowledge, no study was conducted to cover the entire Arab region, specifically the twenty-two Arab countries. Therefore, to identify the OER gap in this region and then provide recommendations to facilitate OER adoption, this study investigates the current state of OER in the Arab region, specifically in twenty-two Arab countries. The obtained results showed that the OER progress is unbalanced within the Arab countries. Interestingly, several Arab countries are still lack behind when it comes to the application of OER in universities and schools. Finally, several recommendations are identified to several stakeholders, including policy makers and educators, to achieve social justice and facilitate the adoption and use of OER in the Arab region.

Keywords

• Open educational resources (OER)
• Open educational practices (OEP)
• Open education
• Arab region
• Arabic countries
• Policy