The Question Remains:

To OER or Not to OERBy Lisa B. Davis, MAT

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 

OER: Open Education Resource• Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible,

openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. Although some people consider the use of an open file format to be an essential characteristic of OER, this is not a universally acknowledged requirement.

• https://www.oercommons.org/

Advantages• Reduced cost for students• Students have access to materials the first day of class (even prior to class)• Faculty has ability to create resources more specific to student population• Research to compile or to create demands the instructor review available

information, therefore being more current on subject• May develop or renew a desire to learn in instructor that will ignite in turn

increase student participation and interest • Students have continued access to material after class ends

Drawbacks

• Instructor will not get rich from educational resources created

• Validity of information may be questionable• Cumbersome searching may cause discouragement and

result in incomplete resources• Students may not always have easy access to technology

and there may not be a budget to duplicate materials as hardcopy

• Cheating more likely to occur since material is open for all