Presentation on Advantages and Disadvantages of OER

1. Why OER?
Maxi Boeckl, Ph.D.
Everett Community College
open textbook graphic photo credit: giulia.forsythe; via photopin; cc

2. Advantages
 Customize material
 Students save money
 Allow access to everyone
 Up to date materials
 Build on existing resources

3. Instructor can customize material
 Leave out materials you won’t cover
 It can be distracting to have material in a book that will not
be covered
 Incorporate material of special interest
 Teach courses using themes
 For example, teach a science course with emphasis on the
environment
 Incorporate the latest research
Image by Artur Kasimov
http://www.softicons.com/free-icons/object-icons/awesome-book-icon-by-artur-kasimov/book-icon

4. Reducing Cost
 Students safe money
 Available online
 Even after course is done, students have access
 Printed copies are significantly cheaper
 Material can still be made available in a printed format for
much less than a textbook
 Students will pay $30 vs $300
Available under CC By TaxCredits.net

5. Allow access to everyone
 Accessible all around the world
 Accessible to any age group
 Accessible to any educational level
Blue Marble by NASA, available on Wiki Commons

6. Lots of Resources
Up-to date Material
 The material can be a live document
 Newest findings can be incorporated easily
 Researchers from around the world can contribute
 Researchers from different specialties can contribute to
bring a broader spectrum to a topic
 Eliminating the need for “new editions” of books
Build on existing material
 Don’t need to re-invent the wheel
"Scientists montage" by Archidamos III MAN Napoli
Inv6156.jpg: Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons -

7. Concerns about OER
 Quality of material
 Need peer-review or collaborations to get quality
 Maintenance
 The burden of quality material is on the instructor
 Time Commitment
 Big time investment to find the right material
 Sustainability
 Broken links and disappearing material