Open Educational

ResourcesOverview, Benefits and Challenges

Created by Mel. Edwards

What are open educational resources?

Open educational resources (OER) are:

freely accessible

openly licensed documents and media

useful for teaching, learning, assessing and research

“Although some people consider the use of an open file format to be an essential

characteristic of OER, this is not a universally acknowledged requirement”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources

Creative Commons OER Licenses

Attribution

Attribution – Share Alike

Attribution – No Derivs

Attribution – Non-Commercial – No Derivs

Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share Alike

Attribution – Non-Commercial

Creative Commons FAQs

Benefits of OER

FREE, current resources for all where the creator is known (unlike

public domain).

INNOVATION. A wealth of resources can be a springboard for new

creations.

RECOGNITION. New professionals can put their work out via OER

licensing and build a reputation in their field.

HELPFUL. Resources are available for those working to become in

Universal access compliance, as well as materials for those in new

fields.

WORLD CHANGING. Free speech combined with creativity allows

greater sharing of knowledge, insight and materials to benefit the

greater good of learned communities across the globe.

Challenges with OER

FEAR. No one wants to get ripped off and sharing it properly makes us

nervous that some won’t follow the rules.

NOVEL. This is a new approach for creatives to share willingly instead

of hoarding our expertise to solely benefit our personal use.

CONFUSION. With half a dozen licenses through the Creative

Commons alone and multiple agencies involved around the world,

some of us don’t know what to do, how to do and why.

HASSLE. Using a new system requires time and energy we may not

have in ample supply.

QUALITY. The level of expertise you need or the content you desire

may be lacking at this stage.

3 Take-Aways for New Users of OER

1. Use it as you see fit or may be required due to funding you’ve received (such as grants to develop new materials).

2. One step at time: Take baby steps to use it. Try it out. See what works for you and don’t give up the first time you saunter into the Creative Commons.

3. Remember, like anything in life, you get out of it what you’re willing to put into it.

This PowerPoint Presentation is by Mel Edwards, 2014.