Harnessing the Characteristics of Open Educational Resources to the Challenges of Rural Education: A Holistic Understanding

Abstract

Open education could be the key to solving several problems in rural education, including costly learning materials, accessibility, gender disparity, poor learning outcomes, lack of qualified teachers and high drop-out rate, which have been frequently reported by international organizations, such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). Therefore, this paper offers a holistic understanding of how Open Educational Resources (OERs) characteristics could solve these learning challenges in rural areas to provide similar learning experiences as students in urban areas. The findings of this paper can enhance rural education by detailing several ways of using OER to enhance major rural education challenges. This could help establish social justice betwee rural and urban areas students.