A brief synopsis of the feasibility of using Open Educational Resources.

1. Open Educational
Resources: Yes or No
STEVEN SIMPKINS, PHD, BSN
LICENSED UNDER CC BY 4.0

2. OER: The 5 A’s in Favor of Yes!
 Accessibility – reaching a broad audience
 Accountability – peer review
 Attribution – giving credit where credit is due
 Adaptability – use as is or change as allowed
 Affordability – for students and educators, artists, etc.

3. Accessibility – reaching a broad audience
 OER has the potential to reach the entire world
 Much of the world can hardly access a primary
education much less a secondary education
 It addresses the issue of the continuing price
gouging of students through open access text
books
 It provides a treasure trove of materials for
educators to use in the classroom

4. Accountability – peer review
 Not in the traditional sense of “Publish or Perish” that
may lead to forced results
 Material can be refined over and over again to
improve the product
 Broadens the field
 Academes can be in what amounts to a peer review
bubble
 OER allows for review and adaptation outside of realm of
“Higher” education

5. Attribution – giving credit where credit is due
 Makes the process of attribution much easier from all
perspectives
 Permission to use materials without contacting the originator
 Gives very clear and direct rules of use of the material
 User knows exactly how to cite
 Simpler citations than standard formats
 APA, MLA, AMA, etc.
 FYI – students don’t look at our list of citations at the end of the
Power Point slides

6. Adaptability – use as is or change as allowed
 OER means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel but if the
standard is a square wheel, we are able to improve upon it
 The material that is available is very clear about whether or
not it can be adapted or improved upon
 Provides a huge amount of material so educators have the
inventory to make changes to their curriculum that suits
their needs.

7. Affordability – for students and educators
 Students
 Prices are outrageous
 If they buy used books they may not have access codes
 Oftentimes are asked to purchase books that are barely used if at all
 Worldwide, people who couldn’t otherwise afford an education can access classes and
materials at zero cost to them
 Educators
 Time is money
 We already spend money out of pocket for our students because the system can’t
provide us with the materials that we need to be effective in the classroom

8. OER: The 5 C’s in Favor of No!
 Complicated – difficult to find and navigate
 Compliance – will everyone follow rules of attribution
 Constraints – Time to find and properly attribute
 Computer Access – particularly in underdeveloped parts of the world
 Complaining – not everyone is going to be onboard

9. Complicated – difficult to find and navigate
 There is so much inventory and so many different repositories
 Many times it is not self explanatory
 OER is not very well known so people don’t even know to look
for it much less where to look for it
 Even when things are where they should be it is still on the
searcher to verify access and accuracy of the material

10. Compliance – will everyone follow rules of attribution
 We all know that there is a LOT of “not-following-
the-rules” when it comes to using material from
the internet
 By having access to the material, we open the
door to free use of material that not everyone is
going to take the time to give proper attribution

11. Constraints – Time to find and properly attribute
 Finding the material that fits your needs (if it is even out
there) is very time consuming
 Figuring out how to find attributions and create them
can be difficult to say the least
 Not everyone wants to sign up for another website just
to get a bit of material and this seems to be the norm if
you want access to the materials that are available

12. Computer Access – particularly in underdeveloped parts
of the world
 I don’t think this is quite as valid a point as it once was,
particularly in the US but . . .
 There is disparity in what sort of technology is available
 Some people may have to travel miles to have access to
technology
 Internet service is sketchy at best in some places
 I sometimes have trouble playing videos with high speed
internet much less with something slower

13. Complaining – not everyone is going to be onboard
 It’s hard enough just to find a standard text book
that everyone in your department can agree upon
 MANY (tenured) faculty refuse to do anything that
might mean a little extra time and effort
 Change is difficult and takes a long time
 We can ill-afford attrition in the ranks of academia
and changes like this might be the straw that
breaks the proverbial back of the camel