Open educational resources OER M Harder

What’s It All About?-- Benefits

Why do I need to think about it ?– Challenges

Margo Harder Faculty

Benefit One

Open Educational Resources (OER) has the strongest intension of opening educational resources to a far broader population of individuals with computer access .

Benefit Two

There is no charge for the information. It is free

Benefit Three

OER material can, depending on the CC licensing be reused , shared etc.

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Benefit Four

OER material appears at this time to be voluntarily given by authors and not institutionally required .

Benefit Five

OER broadens authoring opportunities and collaboration with other academics.

Challenge One Open Educational Resources (OER) is not a universally available resource . Computer access is a major requirement for most of the world’s population. It could contribute to a widening gap between the educated and uneducated.

ChallengeTwo Although proper use of the Create Common Licensing recognizes OER authors and their licensing choices, authors still remain without a line of remuneration.

Challenge Three Quality management, peer review or rating of OER materials does not appear to be part of the CC system.

Challenge Four It takes time, effort and a level of acceptance on the part of potential OER participants to use the system as envisioned.

Challenge Five Not a lot of folks including academics know about OER.