A brief overview of benefits and drawbacks of using Open Education Resources, and ways to overcome barriers to their use

1. Benefits and Drawbacks of Open
Educational Resources
Author: Alisha Williams

2. Education’s Most Noble Purpose:
Self-Actualization
Benefits to the learner as an
individual
How OER fits in with those
ideals
 Self-discovery and
refinement of ideas,
thoughts, and personal
philosophies
 Greater connection to the
world at large, increased
participation as a citizen
 Exposure to the great works
of humanity; inspiration to
create something out of
human expression
 Increases likelihood of
contributing something
worthwhile to future
generations
 Knowledge of other
perspectives leads to better
problem solving
 OER is equal opportunity:
infinite perspectives are allowed
 OER is international, drawing
on experience and knowledge
from across the globe
 OER persists when other
courses become inaccessible—
reconnect with what you’ve
learned years later
 OER reinforces the idea that
learning is for life and isn’t
merely a “stint” in college that is
quickly over
 OER encourages natural
curiosity to dig deeper, to look in
unusual places, to adopt
innovative practices that
translate to personal and
professional domains
Benefits and Drawbacks to Open Educational Resources by Alisha Williams

3. Drawbacks
and Ways to Overcome Them
• Quality varies
• Materials are
decentralized
• Materials are
sometimes
poorly indexed
• There are many
untapped
resources (the
vast majority of
the world’s
teachers and
experts)
• People simply
don’t know
about OER
 Start an OER review group at your
college or in your department. Keep
adding vetted resources to a database
or website little by little
 Join large OER websites like Merlot II
and get involved to improve quality
and organization of materials
 Encourage colleagues to submit their
lessons to OER repositories and
create your own
 Include OER sources in presentations
and communications with proper
citation. This will increase awareness
and acceptance at multiple levels
Benefits and Drawbacks to Open Educational Resources by Alisha Williams

4. Final Thoughts
OER can be overwhelming: the amount of them, the varying degrees of quality,
the lack of selection in your particular topic, the vast array of websites that host
them…
However, I believe the key is to pace oneself and take it slow. If contributors
and users focus on quality, the end result will be entirely worth the effort, even
if it takes several months or even years for a dependable “stash” of materials to
be located, sorted, and saved for later use. Also, it will become even more
important that instructors begin contributing to the amount of high quality
resources already available, in order to ensure full topic coverage and
continued relevance of the content
Benefits and Drawbacks to Open Educational Resources by Alisha Williams