Open Educational ResourcesBenefits and ChallengesRachel Renée McBain

Adapted from material in OER 101 by Boyoung Chae, Monique Belair, & Christie Fierro

Benefits

"Quibble Over the Cloud" by Barbara Dieu is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Cost

• My classes are Developmental English courses, which costs extra for a student to take because it does not count towards their graduation requirement. Thus, eliminating a textbook saves money.

• My students do not often reuse their textbooks, especially the readers. They must sell back to expensive texts in order to recoup some of the cost.

• Any additional materials, such as citation guides and grammar/style resources are quite costly, but would improve student performance in my classes if there was a free alternative for motivated students.

Better Access and Choice

• If a student does not like the layout and activities in a recommended grammar guide, that student can view other options by asking the instructor for guidance.

• Students can sample classes and materials from 4-year Universities for free.

• Students can access materials to use in research papers without having to sift through poor quality Internet sources.

Social Responsibility

• Students do not need to be physically present in the class to access the material. Some students would like to attend to view videos and participate in discussions, but have other responsibilities and/or financial challenges.

• Students can become empowered to see themselves as members of a global, participatory community in spite of economic and social barriers.

Improved Clarity and Reuse

• Students can watch a video repeatedly on a Learning Management System without any issues with copyright.

• Instructors can modify and reuse materials to fit the needs of learners.

• Extra materials can be added to supplement an individual learner’s needs.

Raises the Standards of Educational Research

• Educators can freely build on the work of others.• Original thought is encouraged because each instructor is

challenged to produce original content.• Information is shared quickly and researchers do not

waste time duplicating the work of another person.

Challenges

"Welcoming All Problems" by Zach is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Quality Assurance

• There is no reliable way to assess the quality, relevance, and accuracy of the material without opening and viewing each resource.

• Sources may have a hidden bias that is not automatically discernable; there may be SEO tactics used to move the resource further up in the search ranking.

Lack of Public Understanding in OER

• Participants may mistake a resource as OER when it is not and misuse the resource.

• Colleagues may be reticent to share materials and collaborate with OER projects.

• There may be a perception that OER materials are “lower” in quality and that their use disrupts the relationship the academic establishment has with publishing companies.

Requires a Student to Be “Tech Savvy”

• To take full advantage of OER materials, most students will need to have a reliable, high-speed Internet connection.

• The resources and webpages may not work effectively with mobile devices and tablets, which are the main devices for many students.

• Printing the material—going “low tech” is costly. The cost will be passed on to:• The student• The instructor• The academy

May Not Be as “Green” as It Appears

• Logging on to the computer and reading materials on-line consumes resources.

• Printing the “paperless” documents may waste more paper than educators anticipate.• A document will be reprinted if it fails to correctly print the first

time.• If a student prints the material themselves, perhaps out of

preference, the student will use and dispose of many print cartridges.

UDL (Universal Design for Learning) Concerns

• Not all videos are captioned correctly, especially if auto-captioned. If a student is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, the videos will need to be transcribed.

• Not all of the videos and pictures are marked so that Blind and Low Vision students can hear an alternative audio message. Unless an instructor is trained in how to create these documents, someone will need to assist the students.

• Some learners cannot read material on a computer screen and must print the text instead. This can be costly to the student or the academic institution.