Necessary and sufficient conditions for the development and adoption of institutional Open Educational Resources initiatives: The case of universities in a developing country

This proposal reports on research that aims to identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for universities in a developing country to develop and adopt institutional OER (Open Educational Resources) initiatives, as experienced by stakeholders from five private, nine public universities and one association in Vietnam. In the past two decades, many researchers have researched OERs and their related issues. However, only a small number of studies explore the development of OER initiatives in the context of universities in developing countries. This research takes a grounded theory approach to analyse data from 20 semi-structured interviews. The average duration of interviews was 75 minutes. NVivo 12 was used to help organise, store, connect and retrieve data. A significant and timely outcome of this research is a general framework that assists universities, especially universities in developing countries, to build OER initiatives effectively and economically. Among the conditions identified in the findings, policy and human resources appear to be the most significant for institutional OER initiatives development in Vietnam. An understanding of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the development and adoption of institutional OER will facilitate as well as encourage more universities to build OER initiatives. (As one of the biggest challenges of the OER movement in Vietnam is the awareness of stakeholders about the nature of OER and its benefits, it is worth noting that the research activity itself raised awareness of the importance of OER among the diverse stakeholders in this country.) This research offers an opportunity to develop a better understanding of the issues associated with institutional OER initiatives, which can then underpin future OER development and adoption. This research thus has implications for research as well as practice in the open education movement in general and the OER movement specifically.