Build it and They Will Come? – Inhibiting Factors for Reuse of Open Content in Developing Countries

Open content has the potential to change the playing field when it comes to every individual's right to education. Development of new course content is both expensive and time consuming and open content can help educational organizations to deal with these problems by offering free‐to‐use educational resources. Despite the benefits of open content the usage is very low in developing countries and understanding why content developers choose not to use open content is the first step towards finding a solution to the problem. Which inhibiting factors for reuse do content developers in developing countries experience with open content? To answer the question interviews, questionnaires and observations have been made with content developers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and from UNESCO Open Training Platform. Findings show that many of the inhibiting factors with reuse of open content do not necessarily relate to the actual content. Educational rules and regulations, lack of infrastructure, teaching practices and traditions etc. are major obstacles that need to be overcome if the usage of open content should increase.

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