Benefits & Challenges of Using Open Educational Resources BY DEBORAH GOULD RDH, BSDH, MED
Benefits & Challenges of Using Open Educational
ResourcesBY DEBORAH GOULD RDH, BSDH, MED
Benefit #1
Education Becomes Available Many cannot afford to attend a
university Some people live in remote areas
and cannot attend educational facilities
Photo by Algogenius
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Benefit #2
Cost Savings Free textbooks Free course materials The cost of these things can be
prohibitive to students education advancement. OER can remove this barrier.
Photo by Dhilung Kirat
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Benefit #3
Allows Access to More Quality Choices in Educational Material There are ever growing free
resources from well revered universities
Books, lectures, tutorials, and class materials are just a few of the offerings available
Photo by Rodrigo Soldon
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Benefit #4
Helps With Course Preparation and Retention of Knowledge Prospective students can preview
course material Past students can reinforce learned
material by having access to course material to review concepts
Photo by Ohio National Guard
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Benefit #5
Clear Rules for Reusing Materials Creative Commons licenses allow
materials that are not software code, such as blogs, photos, films, and books to be easily shared
Creative Commons licenses are in easy to understand language and the rules are very clear
Photo by John Haslam
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Challenge #1
Time It takes time to learn about OER
and how to use it It takes time to look up license
information
Photo by Alan Cleaver
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Challenge #2
Difficult to Judge qQuality of Resources There are no set standards
available as to quality of available materials before they are licensed by Creative Commons
There is no reference point for relevance to a particular subject area
Photo by Elizabeth Hahn
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Challenge #3
Funding for Sustainability Start up funding will go away Without maintenance funds,
many free OER will cease to exist
Photo by Dan Moyle
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Challenge #4
Educators Feel Threatened by OER People may feel OER threatens
ownership of ones materials OER is relatively new it takes
time to educate people about the benefits and myths of using something new
Photo by JD Hancock
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Challenge #5
Non-Revocable Licenses Creative Commons licenses are
non-revocable Someone who has already used
your work under a CC license has the right to continue using it under the license agreement
Photo by Michael Gil
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/2.0/