Open To Support Accessibility: The Use of Open Books by SQU Faculty

With Sultan Qaboos University (SQU)’s growing strategic priorities to improve teaching and research performance while increasing their competitive edge and reducing costs, Open Educational Resources (OER) appear as a possible option where e-books are often cited to help streamline the SQU’s resources and services. Similarly, the Instructional and Learning Technologies Program in the College of Education has an interest in the use of open books as a method of increasing accessibility to textbook materials for faculty and students. This descriptive study employed a survey to investigate SQU faculty uses and perceptions of open books to identify the advantages of increasing its accessibility. The analysis of the findings indicates that the faculty at SQU have access to open books and encourage positive experiences using them in their classrooms. That implicates a number of pedagogical benefits that can be supported by the use of open books. Therefore, it is important to grow the awareness among the policy makers and faculty about the benefits of encouraging and granting students access to other OER resources that might lead to more student learning.