Open educational resources (OER) provide benefits to students as well as instructors and researchers. They help minimize the cost of learning for students through free or low-cost options, such as open textbooks, and they help create a stronger learning experience, where the instructors invite the students to be part of the learning process.
Why OER?
Affordability is often the main driver for the use of OER, but it’s not the only reason. Using OER gives faculty the ability to customize their learning materials to support their curriculum and the learning outcomes for their course. The course materials can be dynamic, with a wide selection of OER available to create engagement, improve understanding, and break down barriers to accessibility.
Open dialogues
Why is B.C. so rich with faculty and researchers focused on responsible pedagogy and open textbooks? The best people to answer this question are the faculty and researchers themselves.
Examples of OER
Open textbooks are a subset of open educational resources, and there are many other open options to choose from, including, but not limited to:
- Case studies
- Support guides and toolkits
- Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) programs
- Supplemental materials
- Multimedia
OER for your institution
BCcampus was invited to participate in the creation of this OER Policy Development Tool, intended for college and university governance officials and those responsible for developing institutional policy.
Visit this page to assess your institution’s capacity for open; implement policies for the use of OER; or to gauge the interest and access to open for your faculty and students.