5 Benefits and 5 Challenges in Using OER

1. Benefits and
Challenges of
OER
The whole point of collaboration is that you give and
take from each other and that is how you create things
that are totally new.
Virgil Abloh
Lori Loseth
Walla Walla Community College

2. Overview
 5 Benefits of Using OER
 1) Access: Timely and Consistently
 2) Access: Affordability
 3) Access: Academic Success
 4) Access: Academic Pathways
 5) Access: Where is the Best Investment?

3. Overview
 5 Challenges of Using OER
 1) Time

4. Benefit #1: Immediate Access
 Wait, What, classes start tomorrow?
OER Resources are available
immediately and are
available before,
during and after the
course term.

5. Benefit #2: Access/Affordability
 Access/Affordability
In 2021, the average cost for full-time,
undergraduate students at a four-year
university for books and supplies per year was
approximately $1240.00, with students
spending the most (average of $1420) at public
two-year colleges* compared to $1220 per year
at private four-year colleges (average of $450-
$625 per semester).
Hanson, Melanie, “Average Cost of College Textbooks”,
EducationData.org, August 12, 2021
*Note: This is in spite of the high percentage of low-income
students in a two-year college.

6. Affordability (cont’d)
 In 2020:
 25% of students indicated they worked extra
hours in order to pay for their books and
course materials.
 11% skipped meals in order to pay for their
books and course materials.
Hanson, Melanie, “Average Cost of College Textbooks”,
EducationData.org, August 12, 2021

7. Benefit #3: Access/Academic
Success
When possible, nearly 66% of
students will avoid buying course
materials due to the expense.
When money is limited, decisions
have to be prioritized. Often, the
immediate concerns of
food/shelter/transportation crowd
out the long-term intangible goals
of education.

8. Benefit #4: Access/Academic
Pathways
 In 2020, 19% of students indicated the cost
of materials directly influenced their decision
about what classes to take.
 This ultimately could determine the course of
their future career.
 Hanson, Melanie, “Average Cost of College Textbooks”,
EducationData.org, August 12, 2021

9. Benefit #5: Access/Follow the
Money
 Where is the best investment? Students or
Publishing Companies?
 Approximately 80% of the college textbook
market is controlled by 5 publishers—
McGraw Hill, Cengage and Pearson are the
biggest recipients of the college textbook
market.

10. Challenge #1: Time
 Too many resources, not enough time.
 There are so many options—it is difficult
to avoid going down “rabbit holes” and in
the quest for perfect, lose track of the
“good enough”.
https://www.annagomezbooks.com/all-in-due-
time/

11. Challenge #2: Quality
 On-line OER resources are hard to “vet”.
 Just because it may look “legit”—open
educational resources may not be of high
quality or trustworthy.
https://blogs.sas.com/content/sascom/2014/0
7/16/a-holistic-view-of-product-quality/

12. Challenge #3: Lack of Access for some
 Some students may be uncomfortable using
on-line resources or unable to find reliable
internet access and many OER are on-line.
 This is also a concern for Instructors—
sometimes we find the “perfect” illustration,
but it is not available to us due to copyright
restrictions.
https://www.amazon.sa/-
/en/Toyvian-Telephone-Reading-
Parents-Children-
Interactive/dp/B08G77V7DH

13. Challenge #4: Relevance
 OER are presently less numerous than
traditional textbooks and so finding one that
dovetails with your course may be a
challenge.
 Sometimes digital OER are difficult to
navigate, especially if a student needs to
either check previously covered content or
else look ahead for contextual
understanding. OER often are not as easy to
page back and forth when there is not a
glossary/table of contents/associated
resources, easily available.
https://www.stratospherenetworks.com/blog/5-
key-considerations-for-overhauling-your-it-road-
map-for-2020/

14. Challenge #5: Too Much—
And Not Enough
 With so many images available, it is hard to
narrow down how to customize the OER
used in a given class.
 Sometimes it seems as if there is too much
information and not enough time to digest it
all. There is the FOMO phenomena.
https://shapeshiftstrategies.com/
http://fletcherclan.blogspot.com/2016/01/drinking-from-
fire-hose.html

15. Conclusion: It is An Exciting
Time to be an Instructor and a
Student!!
 The overarching theme I picked up from this
course is ACCESS, ACCESS, ACCESS.
This was highlighted in the benefit section of
my presentation.
 But, while instructional resources may be
available for less of a chunk of a student’s
budget, we educators must be careful about
leaving students behind. Our technology
infrastructure has to be addressed to catch
up, especially in rural areas.
 And we instructors have to be willing to keep
current and use the resources/training we
can to keep up.
https://www.poppiano.org/en/sheet/?id=25366