Open-Source Repositories for Learning and Instruction

Technology and communication networks have transformed how instructional resources, documents, and media are stored and accessed. Instead of only maintaining traditional brick and mortar libraries, institutional efforts of the past two decades have created electronic or digital repositories, with the goal of making these instructional resources widely accessible. The profusion of many open-source repositories for learning and instruction stems from (a) the public’s increasing demand for access to information, (b) the culture of [Page 559]designing and sharing Internet-housed media and instructional resources, and (c) the availability (for cost or gratis) of software to readily design, share, and customize these resources. Open-source culture anticipates that users will abide by copyright guidelines as media found in these repositories (sometimes labeled digital libraries) are used, customized, and redistributed for educational purposes.

As a result of the increasingly multimodal, sophisticated, and engaging capacities of technology to present and explain information within efficient or rapid communication networks, open-source repositories can achieve the promise of providing access to all sorts of information for learning and instruction. These repositories have been developed since the 1990s for a range of disciplines and diverse learners, via institutional or regional hosting, or for worldwide distribution. Developers, instructors, and students will find a broad range of content, due to a desire to provide several kinds of resources to promote educational goals across all age groups. To facilitate accessing the resources within repositories, the entries are indexed and there is a search tool and a list of categories on the repository’s home page. Some repositories provide multiple parallel collections, aligned with selected languages, or through a link to a translation application. Often foundations, international organizations, businesses, and donations underwrite the repositories, so users have free access to these resources. Some repositories ask users to share information or pay a fee to gain access.

This entry discusses four types of open-source repositories for learning and instruction: commercial repositories, institutionally based repositories, state or regionally based repositories, and internationally focused repositories.