This report summarizes the results of the research Recursos educacionais abertos no Brasil: o campo, os recursos e sua apropriação em sala de aula (Open educational resources in Brazil: the field, resources and their appropriation in the classroom), as part of the project Educação e acesso ao conhecimento no Brasil: catalisando as comunidades e projetos Wikimedia por meio da colaboração ativa e autônoma e do compartilhamento (Education and access to knowledge in Brazil: catalyzing Wikimedia communities and projects through active and autonomous collaboration and sharing), carried out by Ação Educativa with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation.
The research, conducted from March to August 2014, aimed to identify the main players in the field of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Brazil, as well as the opportunities and obstacles to the use and appropriation of OER in Portuguese language by Wikimedia and education communities in the country.
The concern with the public character of textbooks arises in a context of great concentration of the publishing market. At the same time, new technologies enable the multiplication of alternatives and bring great possibilities for the production and sharing of educational content by teachers, students and the community.
Several players compete in the political and academic sphere about the nature and importance that new technologies can have in the school, as well as the practices that should be prioritized or not. And in a context of increasing commercialization of education, the OER movement and its philosophy of openness and collaboration participate in the debate defending the right to knowledge, culture and information and the creation of a repository of free educational content.
The report is organized into five parts: the first consists of an introduction which presents the OER concept; the second informs about the methodology of the research; the third brings the results of a field research that interviewed representatives of civil society, academia, public power and producers; the fourth consists of a mapping of several portals and digital educational resources; and the fifth presents some final considerations of the study.