Open educational resources (OER) can reduce costs for students and increase access to educational materials, but finding and creating high-quality OER requires significant time and funding. While OER allows more people to contribute content, their relative newness means that understanding and engagement is still growing. OER's Creative Commons licensing is beneficial but also non-revocable, which could discourage some creators. Overall, OER provides benefits but also faces challenges to do with cost, availability, adoption and quality assurance.

1. THE PROS AND CONS OF
OPEN
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES
Jenn deLeón

2. BENEFITS
 Cost – reduced costs for students
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with low or no cost options
Availability – educational
resources available to those who
typically would not have access
Engagement – allows instructors
to find/create their own content
Licensing – Creative Commons
Licensing and public domain
options allow use of resources
without breaking copyright rules
Quality – allows contributions and
review from many, raising the
standards of the resources
available

3. CHALLENGES
 Cost – finding resources can be
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time consuming; creating
resources will require continued
funding and time
Availability – difficult to find
resources for some disciplines
Engagement – relative “newness”
of OER means many do not
understand it or its potential
Licensing – creators of shared
resources may be hesitant as
Creative Commons licenses are
non-revocable
Quality – how to judge the quality
and relevance of resources
available