According to https://sparcopen.org/open-education/, open education provides a more affordable means of acquiring knowledge, and breaks down the financial and geographical barriers that standard educational methods bring about. Going beyond the podcast, this website points out how the prices of textbooks have risen, and open education is a way to assist learners in this area. Also, the website states that “students learn more when they have access to quality materials”. Students are able to go beyond textbooks through open education, and are able to acquire a vast array of knowledge rather than limiting themseleves to only a few paid resources.
www.Oercommons.org was mentioned in the podcast, and the website goes even more in-depth regarding the importance of open content. The website states that through using open content, educators are able to adapt their methods to fit the needs of specific students and learning styles. This is extremely helpful to teachers since they are able to cater specifically to different types of students mostly for free.
Open Source Software is also important according to https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-sourcebecause “open source licenses affect the way people can use, study, modify, and distribute software”, which is extremely important in an educational setting. Tying this concept back to the podcast, it allows a program to be further developed, benefiting a vast array of users.
Open educational resources are extremely important to educators since this is a financially-friendly way to ensure that students are gaining knowledge from multiple resources, and are not limited. Versatility and diversity of material is extremely important for a student’s learning environment, and it is important to teach students early on the importance of drawing helpful tools from multiple resources. Not only are these resources important to classrooms and people who decide to learn on their own, but this material can also be built upon. You can personalize resources, use them the way you acquired them, change the material up a bit, combine it with your own work/findings, and even grant others access to what you have contributed as well. The following is the link to an OER blog, specifically used for a college setting, or for this level of education. https://libguides.tcc.edu/faculty/OER/blogs
I liked how you included at the end of your article how important open resources are for teachers and not just students. It's essential to acknowledge how open resources can help teachers to expand the learning experience for their students in the classroom and beyond. The instructors that I have had in college who use OER for their students to use have been some of the best teachers that I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This was my first time hearing about open educational resources and I was very suprised to see how useful it was. I agree this is a great resource for educators to have for financial purpose espicially in the school system. I believe this a great idea to have and I am glad i found out about it.
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