What is OER?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning tools that reside in the public domain or that have been released with intellectual property licenses (usually Creative Commons) allowing their free use, continuous improvement, and modification by others. (1)
Examples?
Full Courses • Textbooks • Books • Journals • Audio • Video • Images and more.
Why use OER resources?
They can deliver two great benefits for students:
1.Lower cost in obtaining the educational resources needed to succeed in school, thus removing what can be an impediment to success.
2.Access to a universe of high-quality, updated content that can be tailored minute-by-minute by educators to reflect new developments and current events. (1)
Require resources that every student can afford. Every student should have access to OER course materials regardless of financial situation. (2)
• Students save money with free or reduced-cost material. Annually, students spend between $655 and $1200 on average for course materials. (2)
• Class enrollment will probably increase when students discover they do not have to purchase textbooks. (2)
• You control edition changes. Textbook companies issue new editions every couple of years whether needed or not. You can stick with the edition you want. (2)
• You can personalize examples as needed but most OER can be used as-is. (2)
• Can be included inside a Learning Management System like Canvas through links or files.
OER can require more effort than using the department issued textbook. Instructors who use OER may need to identify the resources on their own. (But it is getting much easier as time goes on.) (2) Your librarian can help with that.
Depending on the source, there can be issues with quality. More and more OER resources, especially textbooks, are peer reviewed. For those that are not, it is up to the instructor to evaluate them. (3) Your librarian can help with that.
Would you like additional information or help?
Contact Dale Dulaney, Collections & OER Librarian, ddulaney@virginiawestern.edu, 857-7438.
7 Things You Should Know About... Open Educational Resources by Educause, a non-profit that works to advance higher education through technology.
A 2022 survey of Virginia college students that explores the relationships between course material costs and educational equity. See it here.
References - OER Tab
(1) Trettin, Sara and Dipayan Ghosh. "Open Education Week 2015." The White House: President Barack Obama, Blog, Web. 11 March. 2015. Accessed at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/03/11/open-education-week-2015
(2) Schaffhauser, Dian. "6 Arguments for OER (and 1 Against)." Campus Technology.1105 Media Inc. 27 Aug. 2014. Accessed at http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/08/27/6-arguments-for-oer-and-1-against.aspx
(3) "Working Together: Publishers and Open Educational Resources." Educational Publishing Forum Position Papers. International Publisher's Association, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Accessed at http://www.internationalpublishers.org/images/epf/pp3.pdf
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