This document discusses the benefits and drawbacks of open educational resources (OER). It outlines 8 key benefits of OER including that they are free, accessible 24/7, customizable, stop redundant work, promote collaboration, can be used by both students and teachers, and allow extended independent learning. However, it also notes potential drawbacks such as difficulties finding and verifying quality resources, lack of universal design, need for internet access, and lack of guaranteed long-term access.

1. OER – Reliable Resource or
Fleeting Fancy?
By Kirsty Jones
Tacoma Community House
April 2014

2. Reliable Resource - Benefits
• Free
• Accessible 24/7
• Modifiable/customizable
• Stops re-invention of the wheel
• Promotes collaboration
• Accessible to students and teachers
• Great supplement
• Allows students to extend their learning

3. Benefit #1
• Free
• OER is absolutely zero-cost by design
• This cost benefit extends to all – students and
teachers

4. Benefit #2
• Accessible 24/7
• No waiting for textbooks to be
shipped, tomorrow’s lecture, or next week’s
assignment
• Students can self-pace through much of the
material

5. Benefit #3
• Modifiable/customizable
• The “O” in OER means “open”, and OER are
just that
• Materials can be
copied, changed, distributed, modified, added
to, or incorporated

6. Benefit #4
• Halts the need to re-invent the wheel
• Teachers no longer need to constantly tweak
course materials each teaching cycle
• Get inspired, learn new things, and present
material in a different way
• Two brains are better than one, and a world
full of ideas is even better!

7. Benefit #5
• Promotes collaboration
• The ability to share and modify materials
encourages teachers and students to integrate
others’ materials with their own
• The ability to edit can also result in more
people verifying and improving one person’s
work

8. Benefit #6
• Accessible to both students and teachers
• No special log-ins, accounts, or passwords are
needed
• Students can access materials without teacher
instruction, direction, or control
• Teachers don’t need to manage students’
online learning

9. Benefit #7
• Allows students to learn on their own outside
of a structured setting
• Students can greatly increase their time spent
studying, their access to materials, and what
they want to learn
• Students are no longer confined to
institutionally settings, especially when this
may not be accessible

10. Benefit #8
• Great supplement for teachers and students
• Students can look for extra help on their own
• Teachers can provide remedial help and extra
challenges, respectively, to those who need it
• Teachers don’t have to spend a lot of time
preparing supplemental material

11. Fleeting Fancy - Drawbacks
• Difficult to find
• Participation in OER community requires
knowledge of copyright, Creative
Commons, etc.
• May require customization before integration
• Requires internet access
• Not universal design
• Continuity not guaranteed

12. Drawback #1
• May be difficult to find/verify
• Anyone can post anything – the good, the
bad, and the ugly
• Unlike published material, there is no
standard editing process
• Materials may be
wrong, outdated, inaccurate, etc.

13. Drawback #2
• To fully participate in OER community
(finding and sharing resources) requires
knowledge of copyrighting, creative
commons, public domain, etc.
• This is not basic knowledge for most teachers

14. Drawback #3
• May require customization to be fully
integrated into classes
• While the ability to customize is a benefit, OER
may be so piecemeal or only partially relevant
to your course that serious customization may
be necessary to properly integrate/use the
OER in your course

15. Drawback #4
• Requires internet access
• This may not be easily or constantly accessible
to students/teachers
• Not all materials are available for download

16. Drawback #5
• OER isn’t necessarily universal design
• May be difficult for students with disabilities
to access
• There are no standards for uploading OER that
would require them to be accessible to those
with disabilities

17. Drawback #6
• Continuity of access is not guaranteed
• Since OER is web-based, webpages containing
OER may disappear or be modified at any time
• Creative Commons licenses may be revoked by
the creator