This document discusses the challenges and opportunities of using open educational resources (OER) in college classrooms. Some of the key challenges include disagreement over what qualifies as "open," lack of assurance about quality and reliability, and time-consuming nature of finding credible materials. However, OERs also provide opportunities such as augmenting curriculums with high-quality resources, including guest lectures via videos, offering inexpensive alternatives to textbooks, and accessing materials from renowned institutions. OER supports the idea that educational resources should be freely available globally.

1. MEETING THE CHALLENGES
AND SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITIES
WHEN USING OER MATERIALS
IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM
BY ROBIN NEWCOMER
RNEWCOMER@OLYMPIC.EDU
CC BY-NC-SA
Open Education
Resources (OER)

2. What is OER?
The concept of Open Education
Resources has been present on
the Internet since 2002
Educators use OER to share intellectual
property including lectures, Webcasts,
and textbooks and other course materials
OERs carry Creative Commons licenses that
protect educators’ intellectual property while
making his or her materials readily available
to other educators and students

3. Challenges of OER
 There is disagreement about the meaning of the word “open”
and whether educational materials, including self-published
textbooks available for some remuneration, are really “open”
 While some institutions conduct internal reviews to ensure
quality, there still isn’t assurance of reliability
 Finding credible and relevant OERs is very time-consuming
 OER materials must be vetted carefully for relevancy and quality
 OER materials may not be updated frequently and therefore may
not be as timely as new editions of textbooks

4. Opportunities Offered by OER
 OER materials offer instructors ways to augment their curricular
with the best possible resources
 OERs offer instructors the opportunity to include “guest
lecturers” via Webcasts and YouTube videos
 Some instructors may find OERs inexpensive textbook
substitutes for cash-strapped students
 Many OER materials are from world-renowned research-oriented
educational institutions and represent work an instructor might
not otherwise have access to
 OER reinforces the concept that everyone in our 21st Century
global community should have access to free educational
resources