On Distance Learning, Open Educational Resources, and the Role of University Libraries in These Processes

Abstract

Objective. The article is aimed to improve the understanding of university communities (teachers, students, librarians) concerning the development of distance learning, open educational resources, and the new role of university libraries in these processes. Methods. The main data on the development of distance learning, OER, and increasing the role of university libraries in these processes were obtained due to the analysis of professional publications in periodicals and on the university websites of around the world, the application of methods of method of participant and non-participant observation, a description of the authors’ own experience (the director of the scientific library, the associate professor of IT disciplines and the heads of the scientific library departments) who work at the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technology (Dnipro, Ukraine). Results. It has been established that the implementation of distance learning systems, the use and availability of open (preferably free) information sources on open access platforms or open educational resources (OER), exchange of scientific research in the digital scientific space, etc. – these components are closely interconnected and used among teachers, scientists, students. Distance education requires inclusion in the processes of both teachers – authors of open educational resources, and employees of certain services providing information and IT support for both teachers and the resources created by them. Such structures are university libraries, which were among the first to support the philosophy of openness and to join the processes of supporting open access, open science, and open education based on intellectual information systems and technologies. The experience of the scientific library of USUST is considered – a structure that enables online access to text and non-text OER as a necessary element while ensuring limited personal interaction between a teacher and a student. Conclusions. Today, during the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the foundations are being actively laid to make the provision of educational services at universities, in particular distance education, dynamic and multidimensional. It is necessary to integrate electronic library resources with distance learning platforms to ensure unhindered access for students and teachers.