A discussion of 5 benefits and 5 challenges associated with OERs. Made for an OER course for faculty and staff

1. OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES:
CONSIDERATIONS
By Stephanie Kernik
CC BY 4.0 Classroom by James F Clay is licensed
by CC BY-NC 2.0

2. Pros and Cons
Benefits
• Flexibility & Adaptability
• Low-to-no Cost Materials
• Creative Exchange of Ideas
• Improving Accessibility
• Opportunity for Professional Development
Challenges
• Unequal Distribution of Resources
• Technology-Dependent
• Maintenance of Materials
• Time Commitment
• Bias around quality
Open Educational Resources:
Considerations
11/20/2023 2
Open Educational Resources (OER) are excellent resources but come with some considerations. The following
slides will explore these pros and Challenges.

3. Benefit: Flexibility & Adaptability
With OER, an instructor can mix-and-match and
perhaps even adjust materials as needed to create
a course that exactly suites their vison.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations Photo by Christin Hume,
licensed by Unsplash

4. Challenge: Distribution of Resources
Not all fields of study have the same level of
available resources. Some fields, such as assistive
technology or health and fitness, do not yet have
the wealth of materials fields such as math do.
This requires a larger time commitment of these
instructors to create new resources.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations
Photo by Katerina Kerdi,
licensed by Unsplash

5. Benefit: Low-to-no Cost Materials
Cost of materials is a substantial barrier to success
for students without a lot of funds. OER provides
generally the same level of quality at a fraction of
the price of publisher-made materials.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations Photo by Alexander Grey,
licensed by Unsplash

6. Challenge: Technology-Dependent
 Many OER resources are available only online.
However, there are still students who do not have
reliable internet access at home. One should be
careful of how much internet access is required.
 Some OER homework systems do not have dedicated
tech support, leaving the instructor as the only option
if a student is having technical difficulties.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations
Photo by Cut in A Moment,
licensed by Unsplash

7. Benefit: Creative Exchange of Ideas
Every instructor (hopefully) innovates and improves
their materials every iteration, even if only by a
little. Contributing to and using OER allows us to
share our improvements and then we all get a little
bit better.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations Photo by Alina Grubnyak,
licensed by Unsplash

8. Challenge: Maintenance of Materials
 For quality of materials to be ensured, content should
be maintained. It can be difficult to fund long-
running OER projects.
 As digital formats change and evolve, OER materials
must change too. This also costs money to maintain.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations
Photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral
licensed by Unsplash

9. Benefit: Improving Accessibility
With the flexibility to edit materials comes the
opportunity to ensure that one’s materials meet
WCAG standards, and the ability to change
materials to meet the needs of your exact students.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations Photo by Rich Smith,
licensed by Unsplash

10. Challenge: Time Commitment
The materials are there but it takes time
 Reviewing material to ensure accessibility.
 Double-checking quality and links
 Falling down the rabbit hole of finding/editing
material so it exactly matches your vison for the class.
(instead of making do with what the publisher provides)
Open Educational Resources: Considerations
Photo by Jon Tyson,
licensed by Unsplash

11. Benefit:
Opportunity for Professional Development
Creating and sharing OER course materials is a way
to work on your classes while also contributing to
your field in a broader way, which can be used for
promotion applications.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations Photo by Cytonn Photography
licensed by Unsplash

12. Challenge: Bias against OER
Because there is no official, paid quality control person
responsible for all OER, some people regard OER with a
level of suspicion. This may impact course reviews.
Open Educational Resources: Considerations
Photo by Michael Fousert,
licensed by Unsplash

13. IN CONCLUSION:
Open Educational Resources are a
fantastic opportunity to find low-
cost student-centered course
materials that can be tailored to
one’s specific circumstances, but it
is a time commitment and one
must give careful thought to
longevity of resources and
accessibility to students.