Obstacles and benefits to faculty using Open Education Resources. Created as a course assignment for the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

1. Choosing Open Education
Resources: Perspective from
the Faculty
By Gregg SAPP for WA – SBCTC Course
“How to Use Open Education Resources”
(3/2/2015)

2. Some Common Faculty
Objections to OER
• Faculty perceive the quality to be inferior to
“standard” course materials.
• Faculty misunderstand the nature and purpose of
Creative Commons licensing.
• Faculty are unaware of the diversity of OER
• Faculty prefer to develop their own course
materials.
• Faculty fear that under Creative Commons they will
not get due credit for their work.
• Faculty may be motivated by the desire for
royalties.

3. Some Under-appreciated
Faculty Benefits of Using OER
• The up-front work of course design can be reduced.
• Using OER creates opportunities for networking with
other faculty and curriculum developers.
• Faculty can use these materials with confidence that
they are free to do so.
• Their students benefit from costs savings and easy
access to OER.
• By contributing to OER, faculty are participating in
research and creative endeavor.
• Advocating OER is an ethical choice in support of
free, open, and democratic principles of education.

4. Open Education Resources:
One of the best things in
life…