Considering Open Educational Resources (OER)

Five Benefits & Five Current Challenges

by Mark Wegley, 23 Sept 2016

FIVE BENEFITS

#1: Price!

• One of the most obvious benefits

• Relieves students of the financial burden of high-cost textbooks• Encourages positive changes in the production of textbook materials

#2: Access

• Most OER materials are web-based and designed for use by today’s student

• They can be imported into Learning Management Systems and accessed via computer and mobile technology• They are never heavy!

#3: Peace of Mind

• The materials maintain more clarity about how they can be used and reused

• Understanding Creative Commons licenses and/or Public Domain status ensures that teachers can use the materials with confidence• Encourages more freedom, creativity, and sharing of teaching tools which

can make teaching more effective

#4: Continuous Professional Development

• Creative control of choice and the design of free teaching tools encourages teachers to continually update and improve their curriculum to maximize effectiveness

• Allows teachers to take advantage of their strengths on the preferred teaching methods• They are no longer tied down by the design of a less-effective, required text

#5: “Open Education” means Opportunity for ALL!

• Free and open access to OER materials enables anyone who wants to learn access to quality tools to better their education and their life

• OER moves the contributions of teaching professionals beyond the paywall of institutions• Knowledge and the opportunity to learn should be freely accessible to

anyone who desires it

FIVE CHALLENGES

#1: Time

• Finding Useful materials and designing a cohesive curriculum with them takes much time and effort

• Plans will need to be well in advance and finding the perfect materials may mean creating them yourself• …which will take even longer than finding previously shared materials

#2: Organization (of lack thereof)

• There is not yet much centralized organization by which to find the best materials

• There are multiple databases (and sites collecting the databases)• There may be great materials that are not yet organized well enough for

you to actually find

#3: Quality and Accuracy

• Without a system of testing OERs and holding them to institutional standards, quality may vary

• Using poor OERs can negatively impact student learning and teacher reputation• Individual institutions may be required to step up and create their own

means of assuring quality of OERs used in their classrooms

#4: It’s New (and not well used…yet)

• OER is still new for many established teaching professionals who have taught effectively with traditional textbooks

• There may be resistance to change• This could negatively impact the reputation of OER users

#5: Loss of Value

• Continued growth of entirely free teaching materials may result in the teaching of that material becoming further devalued

• If OERs can be created and shared freely, what does this imply about the people who create and teach these free materials?• Having ones professional work devalued may—over time—have a negative

impact on ones livelihood in a free market system

End of Presentation

Each of these benefits and challenges are still being worked out and will continue to change as more teaching professionals experiment in the creation and use of OERs. For now, OERs appear to be a welcome avenue of progress for those who are willing to proceed with both discernment and optimism for a more accessible and flexible form of education.

Mark Wegley, 23 Sept 2016