Open educational resources in the context of modern digital pedagogy: role, impact and standardization

Introduction

Open Educational Resources (OER), known internationally as OER (Open Educational Resources), are teaching, learning and research materials, available in digital or physical format, that can be freely used and reused by the educational community. According to the UNESCO definition adopted in 2019, OERs are educational materials either in the public domain or under open licensewhich allows free access and the right to use, adapt and distribute them. Through open licenses (e.g. Creative Commons), authors agree that their material can be legally copied, modified and redistributed, removing traditional copyright barriers.

A defining element of the OER is the "5Rs" set of freedoms proposed by David Wiley, which describe the possibilities offered to users:

• Retain - the right to keep and hold copies of the content;
• Reuse - the right to use the material in different contexts;
• Check - the right to adapt and modify the content;
• Remix - the right to combine original or adapted content with other material to create something new;
• Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original or adapted material.

These freedoms highlight the key difference between OER and traditional copyright protected educational materials: in the case of OER, the focus is on openness, collaboration and re-use for the benefit of education.

In the context of digital pedagogy, OER is gaining in importance. Digital pedagogy - the discipline that studies the optimal use of technologies in the educational process - relies not only on digital tools and platforms, but also on quality, adaptable and accessible content. OERs respond to these requirements, offering teachers and students up-to-date, interactive and easily customizable materialswhich they can creatively integrate into the teaching-learning process. Through their free availability, OERs support the democratization of access to knowledge and pedagogical innovation: any teacher or learner, regardless of location or budget, can benefit from cutting-edge information and interactive educational activities tailored to their needs. This ability to create and collaborate to the creation of educational content is a central pillar of modern digital pedagogy, centered on knowledge sharing and participatory learning.

The importance of OER in large-scale educational projects

Recently, the recognition of the importance of open educational resources globally has led to strategic initiatives and public policies to promote their development and use. A defining moment has been the adoption of UNESCO Recommendation on EDOs in November 2019, the first international document setting out a framework for action for Member States in the field of OER. UNESCO emphasizes the direct link between open resources and Objective 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - inclusive and quality education - highlighting that REOs can support equitable access to education and lifelong learning opportunities. The UNESCO recommendation urges governments and institutions to invest in five main areas:

1. Developing the competences of key actors (teachers, trainers) in creating and using OER;
2. Developing open licensing policies for publicly funded educational resources;
3. Encouraging inclusion and accessibility (e.g. adapting OER for people with disabilities and through translation into different languages and cultural contexts);
4. Promoting sustainability long-term sustainability of RED ecosystems;
5. Boosting international cooperation in the production and exchange of open resources.

These strategic directions demonstrate that OERs are no longer isolated initiatives, but fundamental components of large-scale education reforms designed to transform education systems for the 21st century.

Large-scale national and international projects frequently integrate open resource components. From global platforms such as OER Commons and OpenEdu, to initiatives supported by international organizations, to ambitious national programmes, OERs are at the core of creating accessible and interoperable digital educational libraries. A good example is Romaniawhere the authorities have recently started setting up Virtual School Library - a national hub for digital educational resources - and an associated e-learning platform called "Learning in Romania". This legislative initiative (launched in 2023) foresees the inclusion of school curricula, methodological guides, school sample lessons for all subjectsand assessment tests, centrally aggregating valuable educational resources. Moreover, the law ensures that these digital materials will be available free and permanent to all students and teachers, in the country and in the diaspora, by granting publication rights from the authors to the Ministry of Education. Thus, the state assumes responsibility for to continuously manage and update this national repository of OER, recognizing their essential role in reducing educational inequalities and supporting distance learning.

Similar initiatives exist in other countries - e.g. national OER platforms in various EU Member States, in Asia or in the Americas - with the aim of integrating open resources into formal and informal education so that as many beneficiaries as possible can benefit from their advantages.

Therefore, integrating OERs into large-scale projects is not only beneficial, but has proven to be strategic. In national curriculum development programs (e.g. in the process of updating school curricula) or in EU-funded projects (e.g. teacher training and equipping schools with technology), the open resources component ensures sustainability and scalability Interventions: the digital materials created can be reused and adapted beyond the project implementation period and can be accessed by anyone who needs them in the long term. EROs also enable international cooperation: by sharing resources between countries and adapting them to different contexts, bridges are built across language and curriculum barriers, accelerating pedagogical innovation at a global level.

LIVRESQ Library and the OER community: an example of good practice

An eloquent case of integrating OER in digital pedagogy is LIVRESQ platformLIVRESQ offers both an intuitive e-learning editor and an online environment for creating and distributing interactive digital lessons. public resource libraryaccessible at library.livresq.comwhere teachers can publish their materials and other educators can access them for free.

The LIVRESQ library currently hosts over 56.900 interactive materials created by teachers, covering a wide range of subjects and educational levels. Of these, over 13.600 resources are publicThis means they can be viewed and used by anyone (teacher or student) without restrictions. What's more, thanks to the open-content, over 7,300 lessons include and their editable sourcesavailable for copying and adaptation. Authors can make the "source code" of the lesson (the project in the editor) public, allowing other users to click the "Edit source" and immediately get an editable copy in their own account. This functionality revolutionizes the way best practices circulate: not only the finished product (the digital lesson) is reusable, but also its basic structure and content. In this way, a teacher can quickly create an adapted version of an existing lesson, saving time and benefiting from the expertise of the colleague who created the original.

The LIVRESQ community functions as a collaborative OER ecosystem, where each contribution enhances the common heritage of open educational resources. To ensure quality and usefulness materials, each published resource must meet minimum quality requirements:

• filling in essential metadata (title, author, description, relevant keywords, representative cover image);
• correct classification by subject, school level and target competences;
• respect the rules of consistency of multimedia content.

These requirements guarantee coherent library organization and interoperability resources: users can efficiently search for lessons according to specific criteria and the materials can be easily integrated into various educational contexts (online courses, classroom presentations, etc.). The platform also offers usage statistics and feedback for published lessons, tools that help monitor quality and continuously improve templates and content.

Special initiatives such as the national program CRED (Relevant Curriculum, Open Education for All), run by the Ministry of Education, have used the LIVRESQ platform to train thousands of teachers in creating OERs and to publish hundreds of open resources. The LIVRESQ Library contains more than 300 materials developed within CRED, all validated and aligned to the new curriculum, as well as almost 500 digital materials officially approved by the Ministry of Education. These figures reflect the scale of the community and how education policy projectscan feed into OER repositories and then integrate them into classroom practice.

Plus, LIVRESQ provides support for professional development teachers in digital competences. The platform hosts courses (eg, "Designing, building and using OER") and hands-on training materials that help teachers create quality, interactive lessons in OER format to disseminate in the library. The aim is:

• Increasing quality educational resources available in the education system;
• Developing digital competences of teachers in line with European standards on digital pedagogical skills.

This model of community development - combining technology, open content and in-service training - highlights the positive impact of OERs on the modernization of education: teachers become both consumersand creators and distributors of digital resources, continuously enriching the ecosystem.

Standardizing OER templates for reusability and interoperability

A major challenge in making large-scale use of DERs is standardization, both pedagogically (the structure and elements that make up a resource) and technically (file format, cross-platform compatibility). Standardization is essential so that OER can be easily reused, remixed and integrated in different environments and systems without additional conversion or adaptation efforts.

To this end, the LIVRESQ platform has invested in creating standardized lesson templates, to guide authors in building coherent and interoperable OERs. LIVRESQ currently provides four pedagogical templates distinct, in addition to those normally published, each representing an instructional model tailored to specific teaching purposes and contexts:

1. RED Classic: traditional lesson structure with sections for objectives, content and assessment, suitable for a wide range of subjects and levels of difficulty;
2. RED Clarity: strictly logical organization of information, ideal for complex theoretical lessons where clarity and systematization are essential;
3. RED Flux: narrative and step-by-step format, encouraging interactivity and experiential learning through sequential sequencing of content;
4. RED Story: harnessing power storytelling-It creates an exciting emotional context, especially suitable for interdisciplinary projects or for stimulating students' creativity.

Although similar in purpose, these templates include the essential elements of an interactive resource (text, images, videos, exercises, quizzes, etc.) in a way uniform and in line with the principles of digital pedagogy, ensuring both teaching qualityand compatibility resources. Any teacher, regardless of level of experience, can start from one of these models and add discipline-specific content, confident that the lesson architecture follows recognized good practice.

In terms of technical, LIVRESQ and other e-learning platforms adopt internationally recognized formats and protocols that allow content to be ported between different systems. A notable example is the support for SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model), present in the LIVRESQ editor. SCORM defines standard ways of packaging e-learning content and communicating with Learning Management System (LMS) platforms. By exporting lessons in SCORM format, an OER created on LIVRESQ can be uploaded and tracked (progress monitoring, results collection) in any compatible LMS, thus ensuring content portability between different education systems.

Standardization also extends to metadata. To make reuse easy, each resource should be described by a scheme common (e.g. Dublin Core or educational standards such as LOM - Learning Object Metadata): title, author, language, educational level, target skills, license, media format, etc. LIVRESQ requires the completion of this metadata at publication and the correct classification of lessons, facilitating filtered search and indexing content in educational search engines. The platform also offers, usage statistics and feedback for published lessons, valuable tools in monitoring quality and optimizing templates.

Standardization in the OER ecosystem is not rigidity, but creates a common language and set of benchmarks that enable collaboration and innovation. Teachers can effectively combine and assemble existing educational parts knowing that they are compatible and integrated according to recognized standards.

ODL and the effectiveness of modern digital learning

Open educational resources have gained momentum in the last decade thanks to their direct contribution to the effectiveness and quality of learning in the digital environment. Contemporary education must respond to the needs of a generation of digitally native, interactive learners and a context where lifelong learning is essential. OER aligns perfectly with these requirements, offering flexible, interactive and accessible solutions.

Adaptability to students' needs

A major advantage of OER is adaptability. Open resources can be quickly modified by teachers to suit students' level of readiness, learning styles or specific interests. For example, an open digital textbook can be supplemented with additional multimedia elements to support visual or auditory learners, or translated and used in a bilingual environment. The literature emphasizes that OERs can be adjusted according to students' learning level and preferencesthus contributing to student-centered learningwhere everyone progresses at their own pace, increasing motivation and commitment to learning.

Timeliness and accuracy of information

In contrast to printed textbooks, which can go out of date quickly, digital OERs can be promptly updated to reflect the latest scientific knowledge and curriculum changes. Teachers can collaborate to continuously improve the content, correcting errors and adding recent examples, knowing that their changes are propagated to the entire community for free.

Wider accessibility and educational equity

By definition, an open resource is accessible online, free of charge, anywhere there is an internet connection, which means that students in disadvantaged or remote areas can benefit from quality educational resources that they would not otherwise be able to obtain. In times of crisis (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic), the existence of OER collections has facilitated the rapid transition to distance learning, giving teachers and students access to online-ready digital materials without licensing issues or additional costs. Thus, free access to knowledge becomes a tool for equity, helping to reduce educational gaps between regions and socio-economic groups.

Professional benefits for teachers

As well as providing them with a wide range of materials, the OER movement stimulates teaching creativity and innovation. Teachers are encouraged not only to use existing resources, but also to create new ones tailored to their school community, which they then share. This process of sharing and peer-learning leads to the formation of communities of practice and provides recognition for authors (some platforms, such as LIVRESQ, grant digital certifications and provide viewing statistics to highlight authors' contribution to the commons). Teachers thus become digital curriculum co-creatorsThey are not just followers of imposed manuals, increasing job satisfaction and confidence in their skills.

Furthermore, involvement in the production of OER contributes to the development of digital competences: from technical competences (use of authoring tools, familiarization with e-learning formats and standards) to specific pedagogical competences (instructional design, thinking in terms of objectives and outcomes, integrating formative assessment). OER-focused training programs, such as those offered on the LIVRESQ platform, explicitly aim at improving teachers' digital competences while creating concrete educational products. This double benefit - quality materials for students and better digitally prepared teachers - illustrates the synergy between OER and the goals of modern education.

Culture of collaboration and innovation

By their open nature, REDs cultivate a culture of collaboration and innovation in education. The fact that everyone can contribute and everyone can benefit from these resources creates an environment for teaching experimentation and continuous improvement. Teachers can build on colleagues' ideas, approach content with new approaches, and students can contribute to the development of OER as part of their academic work. This approach stimulates critical and creative thinking across the education community and is leading to the emergence of increasingly diverse and innovative resources.

Studies and reports by organizations show that free access to educational resources stimulates creativity and innovationcontributing to accessible and quality education for all. Thus, OERs become catalysts for rethinking pedagogical practices, offering content and the freedom to transform it, enabling teachers to create effective and motivating educational experiences.

Conclusions

Open educational resources have rapidly established themselves as an indispensable component of modern education, especially in the context of the expansion of digital pedagogy. As shown in this article, OERs offer tangible solutions to many of today's challenges: they widen access to knowledge, allow content to be adapted to diverse needs, promote collaboration between educators and teaching innovation, and contribute to the development of digital competences in both teachers and students. Platforms such as LIVRESQ, which combine technology with a community vision of open resource sharing, demonstrate the potential of OER to transform educational practice.

Moreover, the integration of OER into national and international education policies - supported by bodies such as UNESCO - shows that the future of education is closely linked to open and collaborative knowledge. Standardization of templates and formats ensures that these resources can be reused and integrated anywhere, amplifying the positive impact of OERs.

As more and more educational actors - teachers, institutions, decision-makers - embrace the concept of OER, we can expect a increasingly interconnected, equitable and dynamic education ecosystem, where the boundaries between 'creator' and 'user' are blurred in favor of a common endeavor: to give every student the chance for relevant, engaging and quality learning in the digital age.

Extensive references

1. UNESCO, Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (2019) - EPALE Blog (Alexandra Dorin, 2020) - Explains UNESCO's definition of OER and the importance for inclusive and quality education, including the 5Rs discourse and the strategic directions recommended to Member States.
2. LIVRESQ - Open Educational Resources (OER) in LIVRESQ: How digitization is transforming the teaching process (LIVRESQ Blog) - Presents the LIVRESQ philosophy on creating and publishing OER. Describes the goals of increasing the quality of resources and teachers' digital competences, the platform facilities (interactive editor with SCORM export, public library, standard pedagogical templates), as well as the quality requirements and metadata needed.
3. TVR News / Agerpres - Project: the Virtual School Library and e-learning platform "Learning in Romania" is set up (March 29, 2023) - Introduces legislative initiative to create a national OER library and associated platform. The bill would include school programs, lessons, and tests in the virtual library and provide free, always-on access for students and teachers under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.

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This paper has been written for the e-learning publisher LIVRESQ to provide a broad and coherent analysis of the role of open educational resources in modern digital pedagogy.