Open Educational

Resources (OERs)

Uncommonly Good?

What exactly are OERs?

Open educational resources (OERs), according to an often-cited definition,

are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public

domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that

permits their free use or re-purposing by others.” (Atkins, Brown, and

Hammond, 2007, p. 4)

OERs are educational materials that are freely available for teachers and

students to use, adapt, share, and reuse.

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor

OERs include many resources:

Videos

www.youtube.com

Images

www.flicka.com

www.Wikimedia.com

Courses

Open Professionals Education Network www.open4us.org

Syllabi

Assignments

Tests and quizzes

Textbooks

www.Collegeopentextbooks.org

www.merlot.org

www.openstaxcollege.org

Books – free on public domain

www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain

Software

Best practices

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor

Advantages of OERs

Access to learning is expanded

• Available to students anywhere in the world

Less expensive for students

• Free access to textbooks

• Free access to courses

Adaptable course content

• Content can be shared easily, around the world, and re-purposed to fit educational needs

• Students can use OERs as supplemental material, i.e., KhanAcademy, to

• improve basic skills

• learn new skills or subjects

• support current coursework where additional study skills or exposure to course content are needed

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor

Disadvantages of OERs

Time

Usually involves an initial investment of time to

research and develop course content

Quality

since many OER repositories allow anyone to post resources, issues with

relevancy and accuracy are important concerns

Technology

• Some students are at a disadvantage

• Slow Internet connections

• Outdated computers

• Needed software that may not be affordable

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor

Future of OERs

Incredible Potential

The sky’s the limit with advances in open educational

resources

Increased access to educational

materials

Promotes collaboration and the creation of

learning communities

Stimulates creativity

Equips teachers and students with

free resources

Encourages faculty to

incorporate new technologies and ideas in classes

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor

Future of OERs

These resources will probably never fully replace textbooks, lectures, or

traditional classroom materials, but they will certainly ENHANCE and CHANGE

the way we approach/embrace education in the future—locally and globally.

Open Educational Resources - Advantages and Disadvantages, by Gail Taylor