To share or not to share: an insight into an academic community of practice.

Abstract

The concept of an open repository of learning resources provides many benefits in theory to the academic community, however, the acceptance and willingness to actively contribute in practice proves to be slow. This study examines the use and perception of a national open repository of teaching and learning resources, namely the National Digital Learning Resources service, amongst a computer science academic community of practice spread over twenty-one higher education institutions. The methodology chosen for this study used both a qualitative and quantitative approach including an online questionnaire and individual unstructured interview sessions. The aims of this study were twofold; to uncover any reservations and concerns felt within the academic community in Ireland, towards contributing resources to an open repository; and to note what incentives would encourage them to participate and contribute to the repository.