1. Myriam Feldman
LWIT

2. Why Use OER?
Nov-13
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3. Textbook Pricing
The cost of books is a
burden to students.
The cost of books
widens the educational
gap.
Nov-13
The Great Bank Robbery still from
Wikicommons is in the public domain
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4. So Many Choices
Online courses from
major universities
OER textbooks
Open licenses for media
Government agencies
Source: Smorgasbord by BigMick
under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Nov-13
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5. Creative Collage
Create your own course
from resources.
Re-use licenses allow
flexibility and repackaging.
Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, is
in the public domain
Nov-13
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6. Tailored to Class
No more one size fits all.
Only a fraction of the textbook is actually
used in most introductory courses.
Plastic Tape Measure by Pastorius
released under a CC BY 3.0 license.
Nov-13
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7. Cutting Edge Information
Information in printed textbooks is soon
outdated.
Join the digital age
The Book of the Dead from
Wikicommons is in the public domain.
Nov-13
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8. Nothing is Perfect!
Nov-13
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9. Who Will Maintain the Material?
Who will update the material
as it becomes obsolete?
“Not me!” said the Pig.
The Little Red Hen image
from 1918 is in the public
domain.
Nov-13
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10. Who Will Pay the Pied Piper
Will the material always be available free?
Small charges are starting to crop up.
Initial funding of OER may dry up.
The Pied Piper (1888) by Kate
Greenaway is in the public domain.
Nov-13
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11. Buyer Beware!
Not all work published under OER licenses is of quality.
Some information is obsolete
Some information is inaccurate
Some resources are sloppy
Some information is biased
Flat Earth from the Guardian, image originally
published in 1922
It is up to the faculty to screen the content and do due
diligence.
Nov-13
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12. Attribution, Attributions, Attributions!
It may be faster to create images, slides, and lectures
from scratch than to hunt for suitable OER.
Attributions are cumbersome and time consuming.
Works that may appear as open licensed or public
domain are copyrighted.
Outer Layer of Gram Negative Bacteria
By author licensed under a BY-NC-SA 3.0 attribution
Nov-13
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13. To OER or Not To OER?
Plaintiffs exposed their cases to a sage.
After hearing the first plaintiff, the sage
exclaimed “You are right!”
When the sage heard the second plaintiff, he
announced “You are right !”
“But they cannot both be right!” said the sage’s
wife.
“My dear-- you are also right!” answered the
sage.
“Traditional Folktale from the Middle East”
Nov-13
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