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Some institutions interested in OER are also interested, or already active, in distance education. There is a natural synergy between the two since distance education requires ongoing investment in the development of learning resources. Using OERs in the development process should help to shorten the time and reduce the costs of development: sharing distance education resources as OERs will help further to open access to quality learning opportunities and will make the differentiating characteristics of distance education institutions the nature and quality of the support services they offer. This should help to improve quality in both the learning resources shared as OERs and also in the distance education provision.

The following framework has been adapted from Lentell (2004: 249-259) and Welch & Reed (Eds) (c.2005) to provide some insight into the possible linkage between distance education and OERs. The table was originally developed to provide feedback to institutions on their existing policy framework.