This document discusses the benefits and challenges of open educational resources (OER). The key benefits are reduced costs for students through free access to textbooks and materials, easier professional development for teachers through collaborations and sharing best practices, and increased creativity for teachers in adapting materials. However, challenges include the time it takes to find and navigate different OER repositories, limitations in certain subject areas, and ensuring universal accessibility of materials.

1. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
BENEFITS & CHALLENGES
SARKA FALTINOVA, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

2. Cost
Professional development
Collaborations and sharing
Creativity
Student centered – available to
all
Navigation of different OER
repositories
Time
Technology barriers
Certain areas are difficult to
look up
Universal design/accessibility
Benefits Challenges

3. STUDENT BENEFITS
COST EASIER ACCESS
 Free for students
 No more expensive
textbooks
 Online availability
 Housed in LMS
 Student centered

4. INSTRUCTION BENEFITS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COLLABORATIONS, SHARING AND RECOGNITION
Sharing materials within
departments/institutions
Sharing with other
institutions
New collaborative project
ideas
 Learning from peers
 Sharing best practices
 Professional growth
and improvement

5. MOST
IMPORTANTLY:
CREATIVITY
 Versatility
 Modifications
 Adaptability
 Teacher’s own
style

6. CHALLENGES
COMMON SUBJECTS ARE EASIER
TO FIND.
TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS
 Not all subject
areas are easy to
look up.
 Digital
literacy/compeneci
es
 Computer &
Internet/wi-fi
 smart-phones and
data plans do not
suffice

7. TIME CHALLENGES
FINDING THE RIGHT MATERIALS NAVIGATING DIFFERENT REPOSITORIES
Figuring out navigation of
repositories and locating
CC licenses is TIME
consuming!
Browsing different
repositories to find a
desired and fitting
materials takes TIME!

8. MOST
IMPORTANTLY:
UNIVERSAL
DESIGN
 Are all materials( word
docs and pdfs) accessible?
 Are all lectures captioned?
 Are all materials scaffolded
to address all learning
styles?