Pros and cons of oer

1. PROS AND CONS OF OER
By Tim Brown

2. ADVANTAGES OF OER
1. Saves cost for students
• Textbook and digital materials are expensive
• Students are poor

3. ADVANTAGES OF OER
1. Saves cost for students
2. Creates a more equitable educational system
• Poorer students sometimes opt not to purchase textbooks
and digital materials,
• This creates different quality of education for different
students

4. ADVANTAGES OF OER
1. Saves cost for students
2. Creates a more equitable educational system
3. Can be a longer-lasting resource for students.
• Premium online resources are often based on a subscription
model, so student access ends.
• Openly licensed resources can be made available indefinitely

5. ADVANTAGES OF OER
1. Saves cost for students
2. Creates a more equitable educational system
3. Can be a longer-lasting resource for students.
4. Can use the best work of multiple people or
organizations
• Textbooks and premium online resources only draw from their
own set of experts.
• OER offers the possibility of using many different sources in
one class, including topics that aren’t traditionally taught in the
same course together.

6. ADVANTAGES OF OER
1. Saves cost for students
2. Creates a more equitable educational system
3. Can be a longer-lasting resource for students.
4. Can use the best work of multiple people or
organizations
5. Can incorporate new information and/or new
instructional ideas immediately
• Traditional new editions are always a couple years behind
• New information and/or new teaching tools are being
developed all the time

7. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
• The quality of different sources can vary greatly
• Instructors may have to fact-check or edit materials if they
are not from a well-recognized project.
• Instructors can spend a lot of time searching and evaluating
materials in order to find those of good quality

8. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
2. Instructor Time Commitment
• Finding materials that are high quality, match the
institution’s objectives, and match the instructor’s teaching
style takes time.
• Adapting, attributing, and collating materials takes time
• Checking accuracy and effectiveness of OER takes time.

9. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
2. Instructor Time Commitment
3. Sustainability
• Initial adoption of OER materials can be based on a funded
project or initiative, or an individual instructor’s motivation,
but long term maintenance of that material may lack all of
the above.

10. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
2. Instructor Time Commitment
3. Sustainability
4. Consistency Across a Department
• Courses in a sequence should generally be taught in a similar
way with similar resources
• Multiple instructors must want to use OER in order for it to
work and/or save students money (no benefit if they have to
purchase the textbook for quarter 1)

11. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
2. Instructor Time Commitment
3. Sustainability
4. Consistency Across a Department
5. Teacher Support
• Traditional educational programs offer a variety of tools for teachers,
which many rely on; OER may or may not have similar quantity, quality
or variety of such resources:
• Question sets for assignments, quizzes, tests, review
• Powerpoint lecture outlines
• Solution guides, background information, common student issues,
etc.

12. CONCERNS AND DRAWBACKS OF OER
1. Quality Control
2. Instructor Time Commitment
3. Sustainability
4. Consistency Across a Department
5. Teacher Support
6. Accessibility
• OER may or may not have features that satisfy the accessibility
standards of an institution.