Quick summary of benefits and challenges for OER

1. OER
Benefits and Challenges
John Schaub
South Puget Sound Community College
March 5, 2014

2. Benefits
• Save students money
• Contribute to an intentional intellectual
community
• Customize materials to individual teaching
styles, strategies and schedules
• Potentially available to general public more
easily than traditional academic materials
• Opportunities for deep (re-)consideration of
subject when writing course materials
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3. Challenges
• Sometimes difficult to find materials—more so
for higher level subjects
• Not uniformly peer-reviewed or edited
• Potentially significant time investment to find
and customize materials
• Student resistance to alternative course
materials and methods of delivery
• Inconsistent internet access among students
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