Presentation on OER (Open Educational Resources).

1. Open Educational Resources
Advantages and Challenges
Rachel Goon

2. Advantages for students
“College Students Spending Time Outside” by York College of
PA is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
• Free or low-cost materials save students money
• All students have access to materials, regardless of
socioeconomic status
• Online OER learning objects can be more engaging
than a textbook
• Opportunities for students to participate in
creating course materials
• Opportunities for students to learn about
copyright, idea ownership, and “honorable use” of
others’ ideas

3. Advantages for faculty
“Faculty member Asma Abbas” by Bard
College at Simon’s Rock is licensed under
CC BY-NC 2.0
• Opportunities to share our ideas and get feedback from others
• Opportunities to rejuvenate our teaching methods by learning
from others
• It’s easier to teach when all students have the materials!

4. Potential hurdles to clear
“Men's 100m Hurdles at the Triton Invitational 2011” by SD
Dirk is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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Quality of materials can vary
Some disciplines have more readily-available OERs than others
It can be time consuming to find OERs
Adapting them for our own use also takes time
Not all OER are designed to be printable, and some studies suggest
that we understand textual material better on paper than on a
screen