This is a power point presentation that explains open education resources and some of the costs and benefits of using them.

1. Saving our student’s money and enhancing our own
curriculums through these free resources
By: Leila Foard
Licensed by CC 3.0

2.  Open Education Resources are education
resources that have been given an open
license, which means they are free for
instructors and students to use.

3. Well, there are some key benefits to using
OERs.
 Did I mention they are free?
 Free, meaning the use of OERs can save our
students thousands of dollars off the price of
books.

4.  Yes, while this is true, think about how many
additional courses a student could take if
they saved all of that money on books!

5. OPPORTUNITY
EQUAL

6.  Well, Let me tell you!
 Using OERs has helped instructors
everywhere expand on their current
curriculum
 Not only that, but doesn’t putting more
heads together make ideas form?
 Using and contributing OERs is like
collaborating with other instructors…

7.  One person posts them with an open license,
which allows other instructors to use the
resources and format them in a way that is
suited for their own classroom!
 The ideas are put together by one person,
and used and changed by another. One
person’s idea is expanded on and changed to
fit another person’s teaching!

8.  Okay, okay, of course with anything there are
some concerns people may have.
 One of those concerns is that we do not
actually know the person who created the
OER, therefore we do not know their
credentials, which can lead us to be leery of
using them.

9.  Of course, time is a concern for any
educator. There are so many resources out
there that actually going through them and
finding the one that works for you can be
quite time consuming.

10.  Yes! It is all free, but again that raises
another concern…
Just how accurate is the information we are
finding on these free sources?
They say you get what you pay for… but if
nothing else, you will find something that can
benefit your students

11.  OERs are put online. Of course this requires
people to have access to a computer and
internet service.
 If a person is living in an area that does not
yet have internet access, then they are not
able to obtain these resources.

12.  That’s the thing, when these resources are
used, credit must be given where credit is
due.
 Where this becomes a problem is when
people do not give the proper credit.
It might make people leery of providing OERs
for others to use if they do not think they will
be credited for their work. We must all do that
in order to keep this OER project going.

13.  OERs can be a great resource for educators,
students, and those who have a desire to
learn but cannot afford expensive tuition.
 There are some understandable concerns,
but if we all do our part this project will
grow successful.