Open Educational Resources

Good News/Bad News

Bart Salisbury

What is OER?Open Educational Resources, or OER, is a process and forum for the creation and sharing of educational materials.

Let’s take a moment to look at some of the advantages and disadvantages OER has to offer.

Good NewsLots of stuff is available!

Literally thousands of objects litter the internet for you to choose from.

No matter what you’re looking for: a quick tidbit to an entire course, there’s a good chance you’ll find it.

Bad NewsGood luck trying to find it!

While there is a lot of material available, OER is still relatively new and not all material has been cataloged in readily accessible ways.

Which means you’ll probably have to spend some time, initially at least, digging around the Internet for suitable material.

Good NewsAdapt rather than create!

There’s a huge effort involved in coming up with something new. But, as you’re not the only one doing this there’s a good chance someone else has already created something you can use.

Plus, it takes less effort to tweak than it does to start from scratch.

Bad NewsCreation may take less time!

Needs are often idiosyncratic, so the stuff you find will probably need some adjustment. Which means the more involved or comprehensive is the material, so too will the work involved to whip it into shape.

In the long run, after editing and reformatting, you might wind up spending more time than if you had started from scratch.

Good NewsUse a variety of material!

There’s pictures, video, maps, text, applications-- all sorts of goodies for you to use to make your material more engaging.

You really do have the ability to put the ‘multi’ into your multimedia presentations.

Bad NewsOptions don’t always get along!

Sorry, but the sad reality is lots of material looks good singly, but refuses to get along jointly. Media files may be incompatible, not just with each other, but with the technology you plan to use.

Given the variability in the technology of your audience safety says be conservative, which means all these options aren’t truly options.

Good NewsYou can be inspired!

It’s worthwhile seeing how others approach a particular topic or subject--it gives us something intellectual to gnaw on, which leads us to build something better.

Bad NewsYou can be frozen by the possibilities!

There’s something to be said for too much of a good thing. Yes, there are lots of good ideas, but, perhaps, this can overwhelm. And, being overwhelmed is not a good thing--we tend fall back on the tried & true.

Good NewsCollaborate with others!

It may see that you’re alone, but turns out you’re not. Lots of others are doing the same thing you are, and working with others can be invigorating and fulfilling.

OER provides a framework for sharing that’s easily used.

Bad NewsYou could be doing someone’s homework!

Group work always poses a risk--there are (sorry Mitt) ‘makers and takers.’ While it’s nice to contribute to an effort, it’s not so nice to be taken advantage of.

Good NewsBuild something greater than yourself!

Let’s be honest--we have egos, and don’t mind having those egos stroked. Building something notable works toward that end. After all, why not dare to be great?

Bad NewsWrite the ticket for your own obsolescence!

The more materials that accumulate, produced usually without institutional support, provides the material needed to replace with you someone (something?) else--after all, you put your work out there to be used by others. There’s nothing to say it can’t be used against you.

ConclusionNothing’s perfect, and OER is no exception. There are advantages and disadvantages, and it’s up to you to evaluate these plusses and minuses relative to your own situation.

In the long run, there’s a huge upside to OER, for us individually and collectively. But, like all other things worth having, there’s risks in obtaining it.

ResourcesViv Rolfe: “What are the Benefits and Pitfalls of Open Educational Resources (OERs)?:

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-the-Benefits-and-Pitfalls-of-Open-Educational-Resources-(OERs)?&id=5638015

University of Maryland University College: “Open Educational Resources: A Guide for Faculty on finding and Using OERs in the Online Classroom”

http://libguides.umuc.edu/content.php?pid=98930&sid=742401

Lou McGill: “Stakeholders and Benefits”

https://openeducationalresources.pbworks.com/w/page/24838012/Stakeholders%20and%20benefits

Jose Francisco Astorga Paliza: “Open Educational Resources Advantages”

http://whyopenedmatters.org/video/39/open-educational-resources-adv/

Lynn Russo Whylly: “The Benefits of Open Educational Resources”

http://www.districtadministration.com/news/benefits-open-educational-resources

ResourcesCheryl Hodgkinson-Williams: “Benefits and Challenges of OER for Higher Education Institutions”

http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/OER_BenefitsChallenges_presentation.pdf

Antony Stella: “Quality and Quality Assurance in Higher Education: The Opportunities and Challenges of OER”

http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/OER_OER_and_QA_Challenges.pdf

Daniel E. Atkins, John Seely Brown, Allen L. Hammond: “A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities”

http://www.hewlett.org/uploads/files/ReviewoftheOERMovement.pdf

deliddoa’s blog: “What are the Key Challenges for the OER Movement?”

http://www.olnet.org/node/639

Bridget McCrea: “4 Challenges of OER in Higher Education”

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/06/26/4 challenges for oer in higher education.aspx

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Very sad smiley by Danielle (http://www.clker.com/clipart-very-sad-smiley.html), released into the public domain (http://www.clker.com/disclaimer.html).

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