Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources are becoming the new rave among many teachers and educators. What is open educational resources you may ask. According to an article published by Educase.edu" Open educational resources (OER) are any resources available at little or no cost that can be used for teaching, learning, or research. The term can include textbooks, course readings, and other learning content; simulations, games, and other learning applications; syllabi, quizzes, and assessment tools; and virtually any other material that can be used for educational purposes. OER typically refers to electronic resources, including those in multimedia formats, and such materials are generally released under a Creative Commons or similar license that supports open or nearly open use of the content. OER can originate from colleges and universities, libraries, archival organizations, government agencies, commercial organizations such as publishers, or faculty or other individuals who develop educational resources they are willing to share." Basically it is resources that help students with disabilities to succeed in the classroom.

How it works is simple teachers and students will use different resources such as voice technology or computers that give helpful hints in lessons or talk for the student that is unable. In this century alone technology has exceeded all imagination and continues to move forward. In the Journal a website has attributed its time to inform teachers and parents of the new technologies available to students so that they can be better informed. It is sites like these that help to attribute to more people becoming aware of open educational resources in the classroom.

However with every new idea or technology there are always pros and cons to each. Some of the cons that have been presented in the article 7 Things to Know about Open Educational Resources is the common quality or OER whether it is uneven. Also the value of educational resources often decreases without periodic updating, and many open resources are not kept current. The flipside of the flexibility of open resources is that many need to be adapted for use in a departmental or institutional context to meet local requirements or needs. This is because some open resources do not comply with accessibility requirements for users with disabilities.

In the article on Open Educational Resources by the Hewlett Foundation it also discusses some pros and cons of Open educational resources and how they define what it is. Another good educational article on Open Educational resources is provided by the College and Research Libraries News and even gives classes for teachers to enroll in. Also in additional resources provided by the link given to us you may want to visit these resources for great additional information on things like how do teachers apply this technology as well as specific resources. The main resource is the best way to find a plethra of material and can be found in this link. Also follow these resources for additional information OER TRAINING, LESSON PLANS. INFO ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY . As a closer here is a video that describes OER.