Short powerpoint about Open Educational Resources and the things that I like about it and the things I dislike or currently find difficult.

1. OERs and How I’m Learning to
Love Them
Queen-Victoria-Jubilee
Public domain via
Wikimedia Commons.
I’m not sure exactly
why I have the image
of Queen Victoria
here. Just seemed
right somehow.

2. 1. Open Educational Resources are low cost or in some cases no
cost.
Creative Commons licenses and the Public Domain materials are
pretty exciting “discoveries” for me. I have already found a
number of good sources for inexpensive textbooks, free course
lecture materials and art images.
Geoffrey of Monmouth , Historia regum Britanniae France, N. or Netherlands, S.; 2nd half
of the 12th century. Detail. Decorated initials 'C'(umque) and 'K'(imbelinus). Courtesy of
the British Library.
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/results.asp

3. 2. Open Educational Resources
make it possible to supplement
textbooks or chose to eliminate a
standard textbook entirely.
So many of the textbooks that I
have used for Art Appreciation are
geared to a semester time frame
and contain more than I can
comfortably get through in a
quarter. I feel guilty having
students purchase expensive books
(over $200 new, and not a
significant break for those that are
used or rented)if we don’t get
through most of the material.
Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

4. 3. OERs make it possible to tailor information for a specific group of
people, or for a specialized subject area.
This way you can eliminate material that you do not wish to cover or
don’t have the time to devote to it. Currently I am tied to a textbook
that covers less of what I want with each new edition. A good deal of
information that I consider essential or important is gradually being
dropped from the book. I am willing now to think outside of the text and
pull in information from OERs and maybe wean myself entirely from a
textbook. If I want to spend more time on Prehistoric through Medieval
art I can find the resources to do it. Bayeau Tapestry below.
By Image on web site of Ulrich Harsh. [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

5. 4. OERs open up the strong
possibility of collaborating with
others in my department to develop
our own Art Appreciation
“textbook”.
Several of our Art Appreciation
instructors have discussed the
main/basic points that we all wish
to cover in the class. Three of us
now have more familiarity with
OERs and should be able to move
toward developing those main
points and sharing resources for
teaching them.
http://www.wikiart.org/en/kathe-
kollwitz/not_detected_235965 Conspiracy by Kathe Kollwitz

6. 5. I love that OERs reflect the willingness of so many people to share what
they know with others and that they do not want payment in return. The
internet makes possible for the wide dissemination of educational materials
to just about anywhere and makes it possible for those who never could have
paid for a college education to make that dream come true.
The Dance by Henri Matisse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La_danse_%28I%29_by_Matisse.jpg

7. And what do I find frustrating
about OERS??
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_
Scream.jpg
Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”

8. 1.The search for OERs that can be used or adapted for Art Appreciation was
interesting and mostly enjoyable, BUT it was pretty time consuming.
2. As others have noted, there is a broad range of quality in OER materials.
You’d need to go through lessons, textbooks, etc. carefully to be sure they
were level appropriate, free from error and interesting.
3. Licenses and the Creative Commons stuff is necessary, but I’m not very
good at it yet and it seems to take me multiple attempts to get things right.
At this point it eats up a lot of time.
4. If I’m honest, I will have to stay motivated to keep searching for Open
Educational Resources that will work for my subject area. It’s just easier to
go with a textbook I have used for a number of years.
5. Connected to the time issue theme that runs through the above items is
the frustration over spending the time necessary to do things well in finding
OER materials and not being paid to at least offset the hours spent on it.
Possibly this could be a problem more for an adjunct than for a full time
instructor.