This document discusses the benefits and challenges of Open Educational Resources (OERs). The main benefits are that OERs have low or no cost to users, are openly licensed for reuse and adaptation, are digitally accessible, can be easily updated, and are reusable. However, challenges include a lack of source material, the labor intensiveness of initial creation, ensuring accessibility, ongoing responsibility for maintenance, and maintaining quality.
2. Overview
Benefits
1. Low Cost to End Users
2. Open Licensed or Public
Domain
3. Digitally Accessible
4. Adaptable and Updatable
5. Retainable and Reusable
Challenges
1. Source Material Shortage
2. Labor Intensive Beginning
3. Accessibility Issues
4. Responsibility to Maintain
5. Quality
3. OER Benefit 1: Low Cost to End Users
Most OER materials are low cost or even free. This is
compared to traditional textbooks or other educational
resources which can cost hundreds of dollars each to the
user. This lower cost allows more users to benefit from the
resource without adding a financial barrier.
4. OER Benefit 2: Open License or Public Domain
What makes a resource an OER is the way it is licensed.
OERs use an Open License or are published under Public
Domain. This allows any user to access and use an OER
without having to gain permission from the author, as with
a traditional copyright license. In the case of an Open
License, the user simply needs to follow the terms of the
type of license in order to utilize the OER.
5. OER Benefit 3: Digitally Accessible
Most OER materials are published in a digital format. This
allows users relatively easy access to class materials from
a variety of digital devices. This also brings into play some
strengths of the digital medium, such as the ability to
appear in many different languages or to be accessible to
disabled individuals (if accessibility processes and tools
have been built into the system), among others.
6. OER Benefit 4: Adaptable and Updatable
Because the majority of OERs are digital and Open
Licensed/Public Domain, they can often be easily edited.
This allows users to adapt OERs to their specific purpose,
as well as keep the subject matter up to date with current
trends in the related field.
7. OER Benefit 5: Retainable and Reusable
Because of the digital nature of OERs, as well as their
Open License/Public Domain status, they can be retained
be the user almost indefinitely. This retainability allows an
OER to be reused over and over once it is built. The ability
to easily edit an OER to keep it up to date also improves
this reusability.
8. OER Challenge 1: Source Material Shortage
Whether because of the newness of the OER concept or
because OERs are often developed by the people who will
end up using them, and not by a major publisher, source
material for OERs can be hard to come by. This can be
especially true for certain fields of study such as the
trades. In some cases, the material isn’t necessarily
lacking but rather hard to find. However, this problem
may resolve itself as time goes on and more OERs are
developed.
9. OER Challenge 2: Labor Intensive Beginning
Because many OERs are developed by the people who will
use them (particularly instructors), they can be very labor
intensive to build initially, especially if the person building
an OER is not an expert in creating educational resources.
However, once built, an OER can more easily be reused
and recycled due to its digital nature.
10. OER Challenge 3: Accessibility Issues
Although the purpose behind Accessible Design practices is
to help individuals with disabilities, these design practices
add extra time and labor to the development process of
OERs. Combined with the already labor intensive initial
development process of an OER, creating one can be a
daunting task. If Accessible Design isn’t done well in the
development of an OER, it can make the material almost
useless to certain individuals. Additionally, persons
without reliable access to a digital device or who are not
well versed in using them may have difficulty using OERs.
11. OER Challenge 4: Responsibility to Maintain
Because OERs are often edited and kept up to date by the
users, it can make the task of maintaining them a
challenge. As previously stated, these persons are most
likely not professional publishers, and though it is
definitely possible to maintain an OER as an individual, it
could significantly add a certain amount of workload.
12. OER Challenge 5: Quality
Due to the preceding challenges, the quality of an OER
may not be the best from the start or may dwindle over
time. However, this and the other challenges mentioned
may be remedied or at least helped by the further buy in
and commitment of individuals and institutions to the
production and maintenance of quality OERs.
