Benefits & Challenges

Camille KovarikApril 2014

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Benefits of OER•Online OER textbooks save money for students.• Faculty can adapt different OER materials to fit the curricular needs of a course. • Courses have been created and offered by prestigious universities and instructors.• Educational materials are made available to a world-wide audience.• Instructors can license their own materials and promote their work and research to a larger population.

Challenges of OER•Quality of resources may vary.• It is time-consuming for instructors to search for relevant and high quality materials.•Not all students can easily access the Internet. Remoteness of location or economic status can impact the ability to use technology.•Will there be funding to develop or update OER content in the future?• Self-learners, using OER materials in an online environment, may not experience the richness of discussion and instructor feedback that is present in a classroom environment.