Myriam Feldman

LWIT

Why Use OER?

Nov-13 2

Textbook Pricing

The cost of books is a burden to students.

The cost of books widens the educational gap.

Nov-13 3

The Great Bank Robbery still from Wikicommons is in the public domain

So Many Choices

Online courses from major universities

OER textbooks

Open licenses for media

Government agencies

Nov-13 4

Source: Smorgasbord by BigMickunder a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

Creative Collage

Create your own course from resources.

Re-use licenses allow flexibility and repackaging.

Nov-13 5

Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, is in the public domain

Tailored to Class

No more one size fits all.

Only a fraction of the textbook is actually used in most introductory courses.

Nov-13 6

Plastic Tape Measure by Pastoriusreleased under a CC BY 3.0 license.

Cutting Edge Information

Information in printed textbooks is soon outdated.

Join the digital age

Nov-13 7

The Book of the Dead from Wikicommons is in the public domain.

Nothing is Perfect!

Nov-13 8

Who Will Maintain the Material?

Who will update the material

as it becomes obsolete?

“Not me!” said the Pig.

Nov-13 9

The Little Red Hen image from 1918 is in the public domain.

Who Will Pay the Pied Piper

Will the material always be available free?

Small charges are starting to crop up.

Initial funding of OER may dry up.

Nov-13 10

The Pied Piper (1888) by Kate Greenaway is in the public domain.

Buyer Beware!

Not all work published under OER licenses is of quality.

It is up to the faculty to screen the content and do due diligence.

Nov-13 11

Some information is obsolete

Some information is inaccurate

Some resources are sloppy

Some information is biased

Flat Earth from the Guardian, image originally published in 1922

Attribution, Attributions, Attributions!

It may be faster to create images, slides, and lectures from scratch than to hunt for suitable OER.

Attributions are cumbersome and time consuming.

Works that may appear as open licensed or public domain are copyrighted.

Nov-13 12

Outer Layer of Gram Negative BacteriaBy author licensed under a BY-NC-SA 3.0 attribution

To OER or Not To OER?

Plaintiffs exposed their cases to a sage.

After hearing the first plaintiff, the sage exclaimed “You are right!”

When the sage heard the second plaintiff, he announced “You are right !”

“But they cannot both be right!” said the sage’s wife.

“My dear-- you are also right!” answered the sage.

“Traditional Folktale from the Middle East”

Nov-13 13