Strengths and weaknesses of Open Educational Resources.

1. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER)
Created by:
Adam Coleman
Clark College
Computer Technology (CTEC) Department
Vancouver, Washington

2. OER MATERIALS CAN BE OBTAINED FREE OF CHARGE
• This benefits both the instructors and students
• Students don’t have to buy text books
• Instructors have access to course materials, quizzes, labs,
syllabi and lessons
OER STRENGTHS
1) Free is a very good price

3. Thousands of online courses from leading universities
• MIT OpenCourseWare
• Open Yale Courses
• MERLOT
• Open Education
• OER Commons
OER STRENGTHS
2) Access to quality choices

4. With the help of “open” licenses the course material is shared
so you don’t have to contact the author to use it.
OER STRENGTHS
3) Use without fear

5. Frequently, students don’t know what they are getting into
before the class starts. If the course has been opened and
shared, students can take a look at the material and see if
the class is a good fit.
OER STRENGTHS
4) Try it before you buy it

6. Courses can be reviewed by your peers or colleagues.
Material can be updated and verified.
OER STRENGTHS
5) New and improved

7. Finding the precise material that you are looking for can be
time consuming. Searching the Internet for exactly the right
material may take more time than it’s worth
OER WEAKNESSES
1) Do you have the time?

8. Anyone can post anything they want on the Internet. How
can we be certain that the material is true, accurate and
relevant? Has the quality of the material been verified?
OER WEAKNESSES
2) Is the material really accurate

9. Finding a course that builds on prerequisite knowledge is
difficult at best. With so many resources to choose from, it is
unlikely that you could use one course from one resource and
move on to another course form a different source. They
become disjointed at best.
OER WEAKNESSES
3) Where to start

10. Students and instructors alike are not sure which resources
should be shared in the public domain.
OER WEAKNESSES
4) What is shared?

11. In order to guarantee the accuracy of the content, someone
needs to be responsible for continuously updating the
scholastic material. Who will be updating the links and the
content?
OER WEAKNESSES
5) Who are the OER police?