Teachers’ Utilization of Open Educational Resources: A Proposed Instructional Enhancement Program

Although Open Educational Resources (OERs) are increasingly promoted to improve access to education and its quality, empirical research targeted at specific contexts is still limited. This research investigated the teachers' level of awareness and extent of use of OER, their encountered barriers to its utilization, and the relationship of awareness and use to form the basis for a program aimed at enhancing instructional competence. Employing a mixed-methods research design, quantitative data on teachers’ level of awareness and extent of use of OER was gathered through a survey questionnaire and analyzed using inferential ordinal median and structural regression. On the other hand, qualitative data on the barriers to OER utilization was collected through FGD and analyzed using thematic analysis with the aid of QDA Miner. Results revealed that awareness of OER was high and usage was regular, but the creation and sharing of OER occurred only occasionally. There was also a significant positive correlation between teachers’ awareness and the extent of use of OER. Moreover, the key barriers identified include technological
limitations, insufficient training and awareness, pedagogical and practical issues, legal and policy considerations, and motivational and cultural influences. Based on these results, an instructional enhancement program was suggested to enhance teachers’ digital skills, foster effective practices in the use of open educational resources (OER), and support their sustainable integration into classroom teaching. This study contributes to the growing literature on open educational resources and provides actionable strategies for enhancing instruction with the use of OER.