Presentation about 5 benefits and 5 challenges of using Open Educational Resources (OER).

1. OER:
Benefits &
Challenges
Zoe Speidel
May 2022
"Education" by Stealth Black, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

2. Table of Contents
Benefits of OER
• The world (of authors) is our oyster!
• Increases delivery modes for content
• Allows instructors to weave together
perfect blend of resources
• OER = ZTC!
• Supports innovation
Challenges of OER
• So. Many. Resources.
• Requires accessibility know-how
• Lack of widespread buy-in
• I want to re-do my entire course!

3. Benefit: The world (of
authors) is our oyster!
Most exciting to me is the diversity of authors’
perspectives, locations, backgrounds,
affiliations, and so on that become more
available through the use of OER. So many
texts on how to write (what I teach) are told
from the white, western perspective, and even
texts that discuss this critically are often
written by white authors.
"Pearl" by WEBTECHOPS LLP, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

4. Benefit: Increases delivery
modes for content
It’s really important to me to provide
instructional materials in a variety of
formats: text, video, podcast, image, etc.
Expanding my instructional materials to
include OER and not only textbooks will
allow me to integrate more resources that
are not solely text-based.
"Multimedia" by Maxim Baskinski, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

5. Benefit: Allows
instructors to weave
together the perfect
blend of resources
When I don’t have to stick with a
textbook’s content, structure, lens, and
modality, I can create a more
personalized “textbook” for my course,
compiled of resources that address
content and students’ needs in the ways
that best suit them and me.
"Knit" by WEBTECHOPS LLP, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

6. Benefit: OER = ZTC!
ZTC is “zero textbook cost,” and by using
OER, I can make it possible for students to
access all instructional materials in my
courses FOR FREE. Why should my
students pay $75+ for something neither of
us want or will use again?! I typically don’t
use every chapter of a department-
required textbook anyway and I don’t
pretend that students hold on to their
English 101 textbooks to return to later.
OER  ZTC frees up some of students’
precious funds for something else they
need. "Cost" by Teewara soontorn, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

7. Benefit: Supports
innovation
Every teacher I know wants to continually
improve. But we’re also often very busy
and sometimes have great ideas or our
students have real needs, but we don’t
have the time to create new curriculum.
Enter: OER! I have found inspiration and
content from so many lesson plans,
assignments, slide decks, and syllabi that
instructors post online as OER.
"Innovative" by Matt Brooks, Noun Project is in the Public Domain

8. Challenge: So. Many.
Resources.
Exciting, but daunting! It usually takes
an entire committee several months to
decide on a new textbook, so sifting
through all the possible resources is a
bit overwhelming. The “Open
Washington” website is going to help
with this a ton because of what a great
curated list it is!
"Cornucopia" by ToZIcon, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

9. Challenge: Requires
accessibility know-how
Because OER are created by such a
wide range of people, it is necessary for
faculty to know how to check
documents, websites, videos, audio,
and images for accessibility. As with
any other resources, faculty may be
required to do the work to bring OER up
to accessible standards.
"Accessibility" by Zach Bogart, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

10. Challenge: Lack of
widespread buy-in
Many departments and programs select
and require the use of certain
textbooks. They may even have
established contracts with publishers. It
may take some work, time, and
patience to bring all necessary
stakeholders (e.g., admin, faculty) on
board to successfully adopt OER and
reap its benefits.
"Deserted island" by Andrew Doane, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY
3.0

11. Challenge: Creating a
cohesive experience
While OER allows instructors to weave
together their perfect blend of materials, it
is also a challenge to ensure that the
materials use consistent approaches and
vocabulary. With too many perspectives,
students may become confused by
conflicting terminology, or multiple source
locations may make it unclear where to find
weekly readings. Effective course design
and backwards planning can help with this!
"Pattern" by sachan, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0

12. Challenge: I want to
re-do my entire
course!
But I don’t have time. So, I will need to
slow down and choose specific
weeks/modules, assignments, and
content areas to focus on first, second,
third, etc.
"Challenge" by Adrien Coquet, Noun Project is licensed under CC BY 3.0