Abstract:

The use of educational resources available via the Internet is constantly increasing and the e-learning is gaining popularity and becoming an increasingly present form of education in the learning environment due to their flexibility that breaks the limitations of time and space. In this context, it is essential that teachers and educational researchers know what are the main initiatives that seek to promote e-learning and what are the most outstanding content development software tools, particularly those based on open source movement which promotes free access to knowledge. The aim of this contribution is to define the main concepts related to the Open Educational Resources (OER) and to present a conceptual schema representing the most common topics addressed by innovative teaching and learning researchers. Furthermore, we present some key points to consider in choosing the most appropriate tools for the design of digital learning objects, the management of e-learning courses and how to preserve the copyright and integrity of developed contents. Finally, we offer a directory of some of the major open sources initiatives through which locate and share Open Educational Resources (consortia, digital libraries and repositories).

Keywords:

Open Educational Resource (OER), Research trends, Open Courseware (OCW), Creative Commons (CC), Digital libraries, repositories.