Special Interest Group Archive: High School to College Transition 11/15/2018

Strengths of OERs:

• Currency: Information that changes regularly, like social studies and science
• FREE!
• They are formatted like ebooks in pdf form
• They can be Print on Demand
• Students can get a copy of the book so they get better grades (according to an Inside Higher Ed study.)
• You can break out textbooks into sections, in case the course doesn’t cover the entire textbook.
• You can get creative, like mixing historical fiction with history text.
• Accessible copies are easier with OER.

Weaknesses of OERs:

• You get what you pay for
• Quality control: It’s important to know if it’s been vetted, edited, or peer reviewed.
• Copyright
• The definition is becoming broader and looser.
• File management is a bit of a technology burden – these are large pdf’s, and not everyone has access to a computer at home.
• Teachers have to create more lesson plans

Threats of OERs:

• Pushback from bookstores, publishers, instructors who don’t want to make new lesson plans.

Opportunities of OERs:

• Teaching more obscure topics that might not have a full textbook available.
• Make people aware of new and available resources.
• You can work with teachers who want to create a new course or elective.
• Collection development and budget changes.
• Students want things to be online, they even read a lot on their phone.

K-12 Follett has an OER section that they vet.

It would be interesting to see what schools are using it and how they are using it.

Can you teach a class without a textbook?

Encouraging audiobooks is another way to get these materials to reluctant readers

It’s good for schools to have options for either/or paper vs. e-materials. Gradual transitions are worthwhile. They also make it easier for accessibility issues.

Classroom teachers can stand to learn a little bit about the issues in academia to know why traditional publishing still prevails and why peer review doesn't always live up to the standard.