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Emre Acaroglu

H817 Week 8 Activity 7: Three key issues in OER

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I would suggest the 3 key issues in OER as:

  1. Performance: Although there is some evidence that the performance of OER is (to say the least) akin or even better than that of non-OER, what is available as evidence is not conclusive. The core difficulty in this regard stems from problems in developing specific metrics and assessment strategies. Quizzes, as proposed to overcome this issue remain to be crude methods of summative assessment which may not necessarily translate to the actual performance of the OER and/or their end users. I have to admit that I do not, have an educated guess on how this problem may be addressed at a global scale apart from a wait and compare policy, i,e,. comparing the performance of OER with those of non-OER in the longer run. Methodology for performance assessment would still need to be developed.
  2. Finances: This is an argument that has been ongoing for some time. Do OER offer better financial solutions for the learning and education of end-users, be they teachers or students. Considering the face value, there shouldn't be an argument. OER, by definition are open, hence free. The argument on the other hand may arise from the necessity of using technological intermediaries to reach these resources, like computers (of any kind) or broadband internet access. Therefore, there is a chance that we are actually substituting one expense (eg. textbooks) with another (eg, laptops). The solution to this will most probably be offered by the increasing ubiquity of technologies, bringing their rices down substantially (as opposed to substantial increases in the prices of copyrighted ER such as textbooks).
  3. Access: As discussed above access remains to be the decisive issue in OER. Apart from the expenses associated with it, in some underserved regions, it may not be available at all due to technological and/or political problems. The bottomline here is; if you don't have internet access you cannot make use of OER, regardless of their cost. Efforts directed at creating a global (free) internet cloud, available at almost all regions throughout the world may overcome this problem.
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Eleanor Dommett

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I agree with your comments on finance - there is clearly a bigger picture here - yes students don't have to buy textbooks but the result is that they need devices and the report include a quote about students printing etc. At least text books in hard copy can be sold on afterwards if needed to recoup finances - printing costs cannot be gained back. Its a very tough one.