A look into Open Educational Resources (OER)

To Open or Not to Open?
A look into Open Educational Resources (OER)

Emerging Technologies 

        As educational technology moves to the forefront of institutions educators are constantly utilizing emerging technologies as they dey bey as an effective means of instruction. With technology being ever so prevalent in our modern-day society, it has become almost second nature for the current generations to maneuver its various forms. When it comes to education, it is only natural that technology now plays a vital role in how we conduct our educational systems. Educators are seeing how these emerging technologies positively impact their instruction. With these resources at their fingertips, educators can access various programs and devices to integrate within their teaching. Technology has given us the means to provide engaging lessons to our students. As highlighted by the SREB, it is vital that educators are properly trained in these areas to assure the effective and efficient use of emerging technologies. Factor the relevance and appropriate use of emerging technologies in strategic decision-making and foster faculty professional development in these technologies to maximize their benefits to students (SREB, 2018).

Open Educational Resources (OER)

     One emerging technology that is up and coming is open educational resources or OER. These are defined as learning, teaching, and research materials in various formats and mediums that are available in free public domains for people to collaborate, share, and use simultaneously. OER is important for the education of today because it provides endless resources and an online collaborative environment for students and educators to flourish in. OER can include textbooks, course materials and full courses, modules, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. Educational institutions no longer are bound to sole textbooks and paper documents and curriculums. They are now able to access an array of vital information they can integrate into instruction with more effective results than traditional learning methods. The advantages of using OER include expanded access to learning where educators and students can access content anywhere at any time. The global pandemic threw into stark relief the growing importance of open educational resources (OER)—in particular, resources that are “born digital” and that are freely available for students to access from anywhere and from any device (Educase, 2021). In addition, it gives the ability to modify course materials and narrow down topics that are relevant to the course. Enhancement of course materials such as texts, images, and videos can be used to support different approaches to learning. One of the most relevant advantages of OER is increased societal equity for students. Many students do not have equitable access to learning resources, primarily because of the cost, which disproportionally affects marginalized students, who are more likely to bear the expenses of their education on their own (Educase, 2021).

        On the other hand, like with anything up and coming, there may be certain barriers or challenges. As it becomes clearer that the growth of the Internet offers real opportunities for improving access and transfer of knowledge and information from universities and colleges to a wide range of users, there is an urgent need to clarify these issues with a special focus on Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives. There is also a need to define the technical and legal frameworks as well as business models to sustain these initiatives (Hylen, 2020). Another potential barrier can be the name itself, OPEN educational resource. One may begin to question, what is exactly meant by the word open? How open or not open, is it? There can begin to be an ambiguous meaning to the term that leads people to question its substance. Although the most used, this definition needs further refinement. To start with it is not obvious what is meant by “open” (Hylen, 2020).

Wrap it up

        As education systems, resources, and practices are ever-changing in our current world, it is time for there to be a great shift in institutions as a whole. Emerging technologies will remain to be one of the key factors in causing this educational shift. Students and educators will continue to learn and grow with these technologies as they become knowledgeable and efficient in utilizing them. As reported in The Tech Edvocate, Our instructional focus must be on who we want our children to become instead of what we want them to know. Students can look up the knowledge they need; we must teach them how to think and solve problems. To become tomorrow’s problem-solvers, our children must engage in process-based learning today (Lynch, 2019).

A quick look into OER...

References

Hylén, J. (2020). Open educational resources: Opportunities and challenges. www.oecd.org/edu/ceri 

Lynch, M. (2019, April 11). How technological singularity will change schools. The Tech Edvocate. Retrieved Feb 26, 2023. https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-technological-singularity-will-change-schools/ 

Pelletier, K., Brown, M., Brooks, D. C., McCormack, M., Reeves, J., Arbino, N., ... Mondelli, V. (2021). 2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report, Teaching and Learning Edition. EDUCAUSE.

Southern Regional Education Board. (February 2018). 10 issues in educational technology. SREB.org.