This document outlines both the benefits and challenges of using open educational resources (OER). The key benefits are: 1) OER provide no-cost or low-cost materials for students, 2) instructors have flexibility to customize OER content, and 3) there is a wide variety of high-quality OER materials available in different subject areas. However, the main challenges are: 1) it can take a significant amount of time to find, evaluate, and integrate suitable OER into a course, and 2) some students may have unreliable or no internet access to access online OER content.

1. BENEFITS AND
CHALLENGES
OF OER
B Y H E L E N M AR T I N
This presentation is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless
otherwise noted.

2. BENEFITS
• No cost or lower cost to students
• More flexibility for instructors
• Wide variety of materials to choose from
• Allows for customization of content
• Available to students from the first day of the quarter
Open Educational Resources - Textbook
Savings Icon
by Lane Community College is licensed
under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

3. BENEFIT:
NO COST OR LOW COST TO
STUDENTS
To me, this is the reason why I first
became interested in OER. The
textbook cost for some of my classes
was skyrocketing, and it didn’t feel right
for students to have to pay more than
$150 for a textbook in a three-credit
class. The idea of reducing or
eliminating textbook cost really appeals
to me. "open textbooks" by Giulia
Forsythe is in the Public Domain,
CC0

4. BENEFIT:
MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR INSTRUCTORS
OER offers flexibility to
instructors. Depending on
how the OER are licensed
you can pick and choose
what to include, adapt and
customize the content, and
add materials.
"Building An Open Course/ Community With WP, Syndication & Duct Tape [viz notes]
@cogdog #wcyvr" by Giulia Forsythe is in the Public Domain, CC0

5. BENEFIT:
WIDE VARIETY OF MATERIALS TO CHOOSE
FROM
I have been blown away by the
number of repositories and by the
sheer variety of materials that is out
there.
"Renewable
assignments" by Giulia
Forsythe is licensed under CC
BY 2.0

6. BENEFIT:
ALLOWS FOR
CUSTOMIZATION OF
CONTENT
Depending on how they are
licensed, OERs allow for
content to be customized.
Content can be added or taken
out, and you can mix and
match with existing content
and/or other OERs.
"assignment 1" by jasmineolsvik is in the Public
Domain, CC0

7. BENEFIT:
AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS FROM THE
FIRST DAY OF THE QUARTER
We have all experienced the problem where
students have not had the textbook at the
beginning of the quarter. Some students would
get their financial aid late, and other students
would have to wait until their next paycheck
came to be able to buy the book. By the time
they would get the book, it would be Week 3,
and they would be behind. I love the idea of
students having the textbook from the first day
of the quarter and not having to worry anymore
about how those who for whatever reason can’t
afford to get it at the beginning of the quarter
are going to catch up.
"2010/365/26 Turn the Machines
Off" by Alan Levine is in the Public
Domain, CC0

8. CHALLENGES
• It might be difficult to find quality
OER resources in your subject
area
• OER resources can disappear
without warning. You may have
little control over them
• It takes time to find and
evaluate OER
• It takes time to build a course
using OER and to keep the
content current
• Most OER are online. This can
be problematic for students who
don’t have internet access
"Open Educational Resources: The Education Ecosystem
Comes to Life" by opensourceway is licensed under CC BY-
SA 2.0

9. CHALLENGE:
DIFFICULT TO FIND OER IN THE
SUBJECT AREA
It might be difficult to find quality
OER resources in your subject area.
I always viewed this as the biggest
challenge to adopting OER. After
completing this course, however, I
have become aware of the vast
number of repositories and
resources available, and I have more
confidence that I will be able to find
quality resources in my subject area.
"Graduation" by Animated
Heaven is in the Public Domain,
CC0

10. CHALLENGE:
OER RESOURCES CAN DISAPPEAR
WITHOUT WARNING. YOU MAY HAVE
LITTLE CONTROL OVER THEM.
Online resources can disappear
without a warning. Unless you
can save them in PDF format or
some sort of repository, you
may have very little control over
that. "PDF Book" by Uncalno Tekno is
licensed under CC BY 2.0

11. CHALLENGE:
IT TAKES TIME TO FIND AND EVALUATE
OERS
Finding and evaluating OERs takes time. There are many resources out
there, and to make sure that it suits the purposes of your class and is a
quality resource, you will have to spend some time assessing the
different resources and see what resource (if any) aligns with the
outcomes of your class.
"ONLINE RESOURCES
CANVAS" by ewelch8199 is in the Public
Domain, CC0

12. CHALLENGE:
IT TAKES TIME TO BUILD A COURSE
USING OER AND TO KEEP THE
CONTENT CURRENT
It takes time to build a complete course
(including quizzes and assignments)
using OER, especially if you are starting
from scratch.
"commons-
flickr8" by kate_t_mcgee is in
the Public Domain, CC0

13. CHALLENGE:
MOST OER ARE ONLINE. THIS CAN BE
PROBLEMATIC FOR STUDENTS WHO
DON’T HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
Many students don’t have regular
internet access. Some students try to
take an entire course on their
smartphone. Having all online
resources makes it more difficult for
some students to access the course
content.
"DiscussionImageFinal" by Rabin
Pamela is in the Public Domain,
CC0