The Perceived Value of Open Educational Resources (OER) by Francophone Linguistic Minority Students in a Post-Secondary Educational (PSE) Setting

In most Canadian provinces, Francophone students are linguistic minority. French language academic resources are often more expensive, difficult to locate, and sometimes not available at all for niche subject areas. This often results in barriers to access learning materials. The unequal access to learning materials is an issue of equity and can potentially impact student success. The development and dissemination of French language open learning materials may assist in addressing this inequity. Open educational resources (OER) are open learning materials that are typically free and easy to access. The purpose of this qualitative research with case study methodology was to capture the experiences of Francophone students using French language OER in their courses or during their post-secondary education, and to thematically analyse these findings to better understand the benefits and challenges of using French language open learning materials. In this study I used semi-structured interviews with eight Francophone students to discuss their experience with French language OER. The eight individual interviews revealed some unique experiences among the participants as well as several recurring themes. A range of broad themes were developed from the data collected in the process of these interviews. These themes ranged from comments on the general characteristics of OER such as appreciating that OER were free and easy to access, criticisms about the lack of available French language OER and the poor quality of French, as well as emotional responses to the use of French language OER. Some participants also mentioned that they felt a sense of belonging with the larger global Francophone community by using French language OER.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education Graduate Program – Educational Research

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Michelle Elizabeth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kawalilak, Colleen

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Danyluk, Patricia
• Hayden, Alix
• Polkinghorne, Sarah
• Winchester, W. Ian S.

• OER
• Adult learning
• Linguistic Minorities

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/51053

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/124060