A presentation of the benefits and challenges in adopting Open Educational Resources.

1. Dale McCormick
Instructor
Renton Technical College

2. Bebold!Bebrave!
Economic benefits for the student and the
institution
All students can be ready with their learning
resources on the first day of class
Students are not held hostage to arbitrary financial
aid schedules
Students do not have to choose between education
and living expenses due to cost of textbooks
Bookstore employees spend fewer hours and less
energy acquiring and managing textbook resources

3. Bebold!Bebrave!
Digital OER can easily be edited by the
instructor
OER can be streamlined to more directly support
course outcomes
Instructor can include his/her own original material
alongside the source material
OER can be quickly updated to reflex rapidly
changing technology and scientific developments
Outdated or discredited material is easily deleted

4. Bebold!Bebrave!
OER coursework is easily shared with other
institutions and instructors
Directly supports the growing body of low-cost,
high-quality educational resources
Sample coursework can be acquired immediately
for rapid evaluation by instructors
Improvements added by other instructors will
benefit the original donor
Offers a new channel for productive academic
networking

5. Bebold!Bebrave!
OER promotes student engagement and retention
Students may be less resentful toward the course, the
instructor, and the institution due to lower costs of
education resources
Less financial stress on students is one less barrier to
acceptance of the learning environment
Students develop a sense of ownership for the course
when they are encouraged to create, upload, and
license their own improvements to course material
Gives students one less excuse to drop a course, a
program, or higher education generally

6. Bebold!Bebrave!
OER promotes student engagement and retention
Students may be less resentful toward the course, the
instructor, and the institution due to lower costs of
education resources
Less financial stress on students is one less barrier to
acceptance of the learning environment
Students develop a sense of ownership for the course
when they are encouraged to create, upload, and
license their own improvements to course material
Gives students one less excuse to drop a course, a
program, or higher education generally

7. Bebold!Bebrave!
OER offers opportunities to enhance
professional development
High quality uploads enhance the reputation of the
contributing instructor and of the contributing
institution
The audience for your contributions is worldwide
The additional academic networking channel can
lead to new and exciting job offers
Publishing is immediate and peer review tends to
be less political in nature

8. Enterwithcaution,eyesopen…
Challenges
Can be difficult to find course material specific to
your discipline
OER is not fully understood and accepted in some
quarters
The quality of OER materials is not guaranteed
Creative Commons Licenses are non-revocable
It can be difficult to find OER materials with
accessibility features