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This paper reports on the first stage of an international comparative study for the project “Digital educational architectures: Open learning resources in distributed learning infrastructures–EduArc”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This study reviews the situation of digital educational resources (or (O)ER) framed within the digital transformation of ten different Higher Education (HE) systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Following a comparative case study approach, we investigated issues related to the existence of policies, quality assurance mechanisms and measures for the promotion of change in supporting infrastructure development for (O)ER at the national level in HE in the different countries. The results of this mainly documentary research highlight differences and similarities, which are largely due to variations in these countries’ political structure organisation. The discussion and conclusion point at the importance of understanding each country’s context and culture, in order to understand the differences between them, as well as the challenges they face.

This introductory chapter explores the interrelationship and interplay between history, theory, and research in ODDE, demonstrating how they inform research and practice covered in the Handbook. It is argued that lack of historical knowledge about ODDE, unawareness of ODDE theories, and negligence of the abundant research literature on ODDE have contributed to the marginalization of and prejudice against the field in the wider education eco-system, despite the fact that it has entered the “mainsteam” of education now. Compelling arguments are advanced for the relevance of history, importance of theories, and necessity of research to the sustainable growth of ODDE. The chapter then goes on to explain the structure of the section, drawing the readers’ attention to issues worthy of further attention. It concludes with several implications from the other chapters in the section and a call for using them as a stepping stone to reimagining ODDE for the twenty-first century.