Open Educational Resources: Benefits and Challenges (Assignment 7-1)

1. Open Educational Resources:
Benefits and Challenges
By Amanda Henkel

2. Benefits of using OER:
• Makes education more affordable for students
• Increased access to resources for teachers
with use of open courses
• Security in knowing that materials are safe
and fair to use
• Opportunity to be part of a wider
conversation in own field
• More variety and more up-to-date resources
for students

3. Challenges of using OER:
• Lots of information to sort through to find good
quality materials
• Learning curve for students who are not
computer literate or do not have regular access
to computers
• Need for continued support to make OER
possible
• No research data on how much students learn
using OER vs publisher’s materials
• Irreversible permissions