Benefits and Potential Drawbacks of Using Open Educational Resources

Kristine Duncan, MS, RDN, CDEBenefits and Potential Drawbacks of Using Open Educational Resources

Benefit #1: Serves as a review for instructorWhile searching for and curating OER content for a course, the instructor will be simultaneously reviewing the currently available subject matter and subsequentlygetting themselves up-to-date.

Read/Review by Sebastien Wiertz is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Benefit #2:Personalizes content for a particular groupIf the instructor knows the specific characteristics of their students beforehand, they can pick and choose from available OERs to create content that will be a good fit.

2011 Student Research Fellows by NWABR is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Benefit #3:Can be accessed quicklyMaking (free) OER resources available to students for a course can solve the problem of last-minute ordering of text books and problems with financial aid checks, which can often delay their start at the beginning of the quarter. OERs would be available immediately.Books (74/365) by John Liu is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Benefit #4:No need to reinvent the wheelThere are likely hundreds if not thousands of other instructors teaching the same subject matter you are each quarter. So its likely someone has already created good content thats ready to go. Even if you use their OER and revise it, youll be a step ahead of starting from scratch.

Stone Wheel by Balaji Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0Books (74/365) by John Liu is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Benefit #5:Showcases instructors personalityBy carefully selecting content, including videos, images, and quotations, the instructor can share a little bit of their personality through their choice of OER materials.

Vegetarian Body Builder Power Lifting champion Bill Pearl - Plant Based Protein Muscle Diet as in The China Study - Non Paleo - You were saying by Vegetarian Vegan Body Building Info is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Potential Drawback #1:No supplemental materials?With OERs there may be no convenient supplementary materials that often accompany a traditional textbook, like test banks, study guides, animations, etc.

Exam by Alberto G. is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Potential Drawback #2:Instructor needs searching skillsTo find useful OERs an instructor will need some experience with successful searching techniques and familiarity with acceptable OER repositories.

Examining Clouds by Kate Ter Haar is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Potential Drawback #3:Takes more time In most cases, searching for, organizing, citing, and getting familiar with OER content takes far more time than selecting a textbook.

Time by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Potential Drawback #4:Instructor is responsible for new editionsInstead of relying on a textbook publisher to produce new editions, the instructor will likely need to repeat the OER search every few years to keep content current.

Publish by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Potential Drawback #5:Quality/accuracy will need to be assessedWith a traditional textbook, an instructor can trust that the content has been reviewed by experts. But they will be personally responsible for assessing the quality and accuracy of any OERs they choose to use.

Researching by Jimmie is licensed under CC BY 2.0