What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?
National Education
Technology Plan -2016
“teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been
released under a license that permits their free use, reuse,
modification, and sharing with others.”
What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?
Let’s Start with Why…1. Increase Equity – All students have access to high quality
learning materials
2. Keep Content Relevant and High Quality – Traditional textbooks are perpetually outdated
3. Empower Teachers – Openly licensed educational resources empower teachers as creative professionals
4. Save Money – Switching to educational materials that are openly licensed enables schools to repurpose funding
— http://tech.ed.gov/open/
Cost of TextbooksPublishing for the K-12 school market is an $8 billion industry, with
three companies - McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - capturing
about 85% of this market
Cost of TextbooksAccording to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission, backpack-related injuries send an
estimated 5,000 children a year to emergency
rooms. More than 14,000 children are treated annually for injuries.
Social Studies - Textbooks