Advantages and disadvantages of using Open Resource Education (OER).

1. Open Educational
Resource:
The Good and The Bad
Katie McBride

2. PRO: Cost Effective for Students
 Alleviates the need for expensive textbooks and materials.
 Reduces financial stresses for students which promotes cognitive function.
 Eliminates students having to decide NOT to purchase textbooks due to
costs.
 Reduces financial barriers for students and promotes graduation rates.

3. PRO: Educator Innovation
 Reduces restrictions of how teachers can interact with educational
resources.
 Allows educators to adjust resources to fit the needs of their courses.
 Multiple viewpoints can be incorporated into course materials rather than
a singular viewpoint from one or two textbooks.
 Provides ability to make real-time adjustments to course materials.

4. PRO: Often Cutting Edge
 Can be improved quickly through direct editing or feedback.
 Current events can be applied to course materials where appropriate.
 Alleviates the need to wait for publications of new editions for updates.

5. PRO: Digitalized Learning
 Digital distribution of necessary textbooks.
 Increased accessibility for students with barriers.
 Educators may use a variety of high quality worksheets from OER websites
rather than low quality printed versions.

6. PRO: Collaboration
 Promotes networking of educators to develop materials for common
courses.
 Peer review increases standards of OER quality.
 Create resources that can be used across disciplines.

7. CON: Quality Issues
 Anyone can create an account and post material so some resources may
not be accurate.
 If resource is not continuously updated it may become obsolete and
inaccurate.
 Additional time taken to review quality of resources.

8. CON: Extra Effort for Educators
 Modifying resources to apply to courses.
 Verifying copyrights.
 Providing materials in LMS.
 Verifying any links used are still accurate prior to each quarter/semester.

9. CON: Technology Issues
 Poor internet connection to access materials.
 Specific software may be required to access materials that students may
not have.
 Students may not have continual access to laptop/computer.
 Students may not have continual access to internet.

10. CON: Accessibility
 Some materials are published in formats that may be difficult for students
to download and access.
 Resources may not be ADA compliant and will need to be double checked
prior to usage.
 Not all resources are properly formatted for the use of screenreaders.

11. CON: Inequity to Resources
 Most OERs available only in English without other language options.
 If OER is only in one language, must be translated.

12. Attributions
 "Introduction to Open Educational Resources" by The University of Texas at Arlington is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
 "Benefits of OERs" by The University of Adelaide is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
 "Why OER?" by Online Consortium of Oklahoma is licensed under CC BY 4.0
 "Pros and Cons of Using OERs for Instruction" by University of Maryland Global Campus is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0