By Theresa Allyn

We can have access to high quality materials, developed by experts, to create a quality educational experience for our students.

This enrichment costs us nothing but the time to locate it.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Students are always challenged for funding.

Many students don’t have grant funding and the savings of several hundred dollars a quarter on books can make a real difference.

Using electronic books saves paper and the waste of old books being thrown in the garbage.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Sometimes teachers don’t like the way their own text book explains the material.

What a nice choice to be able to add or enrich the class with another way to present the idea.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Kahn Academy can be monitored by teachers as to a students progress.

Owl from Purdue University can help English student review important skills.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Teacher’s can use OER and other learning web sites to refresh skills that they will need to teach effectively.

https://www.khanacademy.org http://academicearth.org/

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Materials that may not be educationally accurate.

Materials that are old or outdated. Materials that act like they are presenting

fact but instead present someone’s political agenda.

Each teacher needs to own what they teach.

This includes viewing and working through all potential materials to make sure they are appropriate for the class room.

Use OER’s that have access to top rated educational material such as National Geographic and Pacific Broadcasting Chanel.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

It takes extra time out of a teachers day to look for well developed OER that is appropriate for the classroom.

Community college part-time instructors are not paid for this time.

Using sites such as  http://open4us.org/find-oer/ help make it much easier and quicker to find OER materials.

These data bases of OER materials allow for very specific searches rather then searching the entire web.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

OER material that is available online today may not be available tomorrow.

The online link may be moved or removed and the teacher is caught without the appropriate site he or she has based the lesson on.

It is wise when using online OER to make electronic and hard copies of essays, articles, and pictures that one uses regularly. It also helps to download video clips if possible.

That way if the government shuts down, and your material was from their site, you still have enough materials to teach your lesson.Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

PBN recently changed the status on some of their OER materials and is only allowing use of some of their videos for 6 times.

This move to create OER materials that can only be used for a limited time, makes it difficult for teachers, as after the limit they must research and find new materials.

Teachers should contact providers of OER and let them know how important it is to leave the materials open for use.

Since most community college teachers are not paid for class development time, it is critical that material are truly open and there is not a time or restriction on use.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

Many teachers think if something is on the web it is free to use in their classes.

The lack of understanding of CCL leads to misunderstanding about what can be used and what can not be used in a classroom setting.

Educators are not aware of sites that offer large amounts of CCL materials.

State Board online classes are ideal to help college instructors learn quickly about this magnificent resource and how to use it legally.

More of such classes and more advertising will help this knowledge reach many more educators.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY

The benefits far out way the concerns.

Solutions are there for most OER concerns.

It is time to enrich and engage our students with creative learning opportunities that OER can bring.

Shall we Commit tot he Path of OER, by Theresa Allyn CCL BY