3 Will OER meet my quality standards?
There are lots of high quality Open Educational Resources available today. In fact, the Open Education Group’s ongoing Review Project has collected numerous peer-reviewed studies indicating that perceived resource quality and achievement of student learning outcomes are frequently the same or better in OER courses as in those using traditional textbooks. The optional video above provides a summary of some of this research.
In instances where readily available OER may not be the right fit, users have the option to supplement them with additional readings and materials. Many OER can also be revised or remixed to better suit specific needs. This allows users to update information, adjust the context of a work, or otherwise address areas that may be lacking.
We will discuss resources to begin searching for OER, methods of assessing OER quality, and approaches to adapting and supplementing texts more in the workshop.
Exercise
Write down a few notes in response to the following questions. We will be coming back to these topics in the workshop.
- What are some key quality indicators you look for when selecting course texts and materials?
- What questions do you have about searching for high quality Open Educational Resources?
In this context, the ability to adapt, modify, or improve a work originally created by someone else.
In this context, the ability to combine two or more openly licensed works to create something new.
