Developments in ICTs and knowledge societies have revolutionized the traditional paradigms of education. There is a lot of emphasis on a culture of sharing and collaboration in the education scenario of today though educators have certain inhibitions about sharing of knowledge, ideas and resources. The present study was undertaken to explore the sharing behaviour of the faculty of the National Open University in India. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire on knowledge sharing behaviour and barriers to sharing from 62 faculty members belonging to various disciplines. The findings suggested that sharing was less preferred voluntarily and in networks; publishing was most preferred knowledge sharing mechanism; sharing of learning materials was more encouraged in the institution; and borrowing from Internet was more preferred. The important perceived barriers included lack of recognition and absence of organizational knowledge sharing culture. The findings have been discussed in relation to related research and the existing institutional context.

In the past decade, the educational scenario world over needs of diverse communities. However, adoption of openness as a core value and as part of the institutional strategy still remains a challenge for academic institutions in general, and distance education institutions in particular, in developing countries like India. In this research study, the authors report an analysis of the perception of the faculty of the Indira Gandhi National Open University of India (IGNOU) about openness and their attitude towards sharing of resources in academic institutions. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to the teachers and academics of IGNOU (N=69). The results indicated that: the faculty members valued sharing of resources in academic institutions; learning resources should be made available free of cost; there is a strong need for training on intellectual property rights, copyright, and creation and use of OER; and there should be an institutional policy on OER for its effective use.

The adoption of Web 2.0 tools in academic libraries in India, the barriers and motivating factor to its use is investigated. The study involved an exploratory survey of the contents of the academic library websites in India. The websites of 28 Central Universities, 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were identified for the study. A structured questionnaire was mailed to library professionals from selected Universities and Institutes in India. The findings suggest that the library professionals are favourably inclined towards the use of Web 2.0 applications in libraries. The major barriers perceived include accessibility of the internet by users, lack of incentives, institutional support, technical support, training, and resources. Personal interest in using technology, proper training and technical support were found to be the major motivating factors.

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