Listing the advantages and disadvantages of Open Education Resources

1. Open Educational Resources
– Advantages and
Disadvantages
By Raji Sundar

2. OERs - Advantages
 Cost Effective: Students and educators can have access to the material by paying little or nothing.
 Meeting the learning needs: Presenting material in multiple formats(Videos, Audio, Images etc.) can
address the needs of all students with different learning styles.
 Any where and any time: Students can have access to the material anywhere and at anytime in the
world.
 Prompt editing and updating: Depending on the license, the content can be immediately edited based on
user feedback. Educators can use existing OERs to be modified or adapted to meet the needs of their
course.
 Keeping in touch with Alma Mater: Students can have continued access even after they are done with
the course. Students can use this to review and build on the foundation.

3. OERs – Disadvantages
 Fact Checking: Resources may or may not be relevant and accurate, fact checking becomes
essential before reusing the resources.
 It is a virtual world: Most of the material on OERs are self explanatory and students will miss
out on class discussions and peer inputs.
 Addressing the international community: If the material is presented only in English, it may
not be able to meet the needs of the wider audience. Some of the idioms and analogies used
in videos to explain concepts may or may not make sense for the international audience.
 In the long run: OERs are created and published for little or no monetary benefits which
could pose problems in sustaining the quality in the long run.
 Information Overload: Students and educators could be overwhelmed with the amount of
information and material in the OER, fishing for the right kind of material to be used in class
can be a daunting task when time is at a premium.