The document discusses the benefits and challenges of using open educational resources (OER). The main benefits are that OER saves students money on textbooks, provides equitable access to resources, increases the variety of available sources, simplifies issues of copyright, and improves information literacy. However, there are also challenges, such as ensuring students have adequate access to digital resources, evaluating the quality of online materials, maintaining and updating OER over time, understanding licensing terms, and the time commitment required to find and create OER. Overall, the document argues that the benefits of OER outweigh these difficulties.

1. Benefits and Challenges
of Using OER
Resources
Prepared by Kristin Carver

2. Benefits of OER
Resources
1. Saves money
2. Provides equity for students
3. Allows access to a myriad of quality
sources
4. Eases the issue of copyright rules
5. Increases information literacy
6. Shares best practices

3. Saves Money
• Textbooks are expensive.
• The Writing Handbook my school uses costs
about $80.
• Even though I use it extensively, some
students don’t buy it.
• Others buy an older edition and have trouble
following in class.
• Often students wait to buy books until grant
money has arrived putting them behind.
• OER are free and can be accessed at any
time.

4. Provides Equity
• OER provides equity for all students
• Students use the same edition
• Students have access whenever they want
and for as long as they want.
• They don’t have to wait until scholarship
money arrives.

5. Allows Access to Sources
• There is a myriad of sources that are CC
licensed that we haven’t seen.
• More information available
• More current information because people are
putting it on line daily.

6. Eases issues of copyright
• Knowing what and how to cite web material can
be daunting.
• Students (and teachers) can be confused and
mistakenly plagiarize web material
• OER materials easy to attribute

7. Increases Information
Literacy
• Locating materials
• Posting materials
• Understanding copyrights
• Greater information literacy means
greater access to knowledge

8. Shares best practices
• Use of OER
• Helps us be current with best practices.
• Helps us have up-to-date information
• Helps us avoid “reinventing the wheel”
• Posting OER resources
• Helps others keep up-to-date as well

9. Many of these benefits are double-edged. There
are also challenges with the use of OERs

10. Challenges of OER
1. Student Access
2. Quality of Material
3. Maintenance
4. Non-revocable nature of license
5. Time

11. Student access
• A challenge as well as a benefit.
• Many students lack computers and/or
internet access at home.
• Because of work and family
responsibilities, many cannot avail
themselves of campus computers
• Many students only have phones for
internet use.
• Small screen makes extensive reading
difficult.

12. Quality of Material
• Not every thing on line is good or current
or correct—even in OER sources.
• Students must discern quality of material.
• We must include instruction on analysis of
source material.
• Takes time to locate good sources

13. Maintenance
• People who post OER material need to
maintain and update it.
• Often there is no time or resources to do
this.
• Also because OER material allows
modification , users must be sure that
modification is correct.

14. OER License
• Non-revocable nature of license must be
understood
• Once one licenses a source as OER, it
must stay.
• Later the author may not decide to “sell”
the material.

15. Time
• Creating OER materials takes time for
which there is no recompense.
• Finding OER resources takes time for
both students and faculty.
• With the lack of time, faculty may resort to
the established “text.”

16. Conclusion
Even with the challenges faculty face in
using OER, clearly the benefits outweigh
the difficulties.